A TRAIN company is advising customers to check before they travel during the Easter bank holiday weekend due to planned work.
Northern put out the advice and urged customers to also be flexible with their bookings, as engineering work on their network will mean the dreaded rail replacement bus services will be in place for several routes.
These buses are slower and, therefore, travel times will be longer.
However, the replacement buses will only be operating on Sunday, April 17.
Of the busy routes that will be replaced by the rail replacement service buses are:
- Manchester Victoria, Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Huyton until 1:00 pm only
- Liverpool Lime Street and Hunts Cross
- Lancaster and Grange-over-Sands (Arnside and Silverdale stations will be served by a mini-bus service)
- Bentham, Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Port
- Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Kendal and Windermere.
Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “We know the bank holiday provides a great opportunity for people to get out, explore, and enjoy all the North of England has to offer.
“We’re doing all we can to prepare for the weekend and are also asking our customers to plan ahead, expect services to be busy, allow extra time for journeys and, where possible, to avoid travelling during the busiest times.”
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Despite Northern services only being affected at these times, engineering work across the whole National Rail network will see a plethora of delays, cancellations, and disruptions.
Particularly the most impactful will be the services to London Euston, of which there will be none to and from between April 15 and 18.
Also, those travelling to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, April 16, will be affected by the major West Coast Mainline Work, as well as Manchester City fans going to the Vitality Women's FA Cup semi-final.
The FA, Network Rail and Chiltern Railways strongly advise that Liverpool and Manchester City supporters affected should avoid travelling from the North West by train wherever possible and seek alternative travel arrangements.
For full details of Northern’s timetables – and the planned engineering work, click here.
Train times can also be checked via National Rail Enquiries.
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