An £86m investment in more than 300 upgrade projects is being planned by Network Rail over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

The vast majority of the rail network will be open for business as usual, but some routes will be affected, so rail passengers are being advised to plan head from April 18-21.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s director of system operations, said: “The vast majority of the rail network will be open as usual for people wanting to travel over the Easter Bank Holiday, but there will be changes to services in some areas, so we’re asking passengers to plan ahead and check before they travel.

“We carry out a large amount of our work over the Easter period as passenger numbers are lower than they typically would be, disrupting fewer journeys, and the two bank holidays either side of the weekend give us a unique opportunity to get more work done whilst keeping disruption to a minimum.”

The most notable projects are:

• Renewals of overhead lines, switches and crossings (the movable sections of track which allow trains to move from one track to another) and drainage work to improve reliability means services between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central will be disrupted. There will be no trains to/from London Euston and Milton Keynes Central on Saturday 19, Sunday 20 and Monday 21 April and a reduced timetable will be in place on Friday 18 April.
• Track renewals, re-signalling, maintenance and structures work at Battersea means services to and from London Victoria will be disrupted. Platforms 1-8 will be closed, and no Southeastern services will run to/from the station between Friday 18 and Monday 21 April, instead diverted via London Bridge or London Cannon Street. Gatwick Express services will run on a reduced timetable and there will be reduced Southern services to Brighton.
• A range of improvements including structures work, earthworks and station improvements between St Denys and Fareham means trains to Southampton will be diverted via Fareham into Portsmouth between Saturday 12 - Sunday 20 April and no SWR services will run between Portsmouth and Southampton. GWR services towards Cardiff will divert via Eastleigh and bus replacement services will be in operation between Southampton and Fareham.
• Track renewals to improve reliability in the Carlisle area between Saturday 19 - Monday 21 April means services on the West Coast Mainline will start and terminate at Carlisle. Bus replacement services will be in place between Carlisle, Glasgow, Dumfries and Edinburgh. Caledonian Sleeper services will start and terminate at London King’s Cross.

Passengers are advised to check their journeys in advance with their train operator or via nationalrail.co.uk