The railway between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central has reopened to traffic this morning, after a major engineering possession which closed the West Coast Main Line at Watford Junction over the Easter weekend.

The upgrade at Watford is part of a longer programme of track improvements south of Milton Keynes, which include more crossovers. The work will restart over the early May bank holiday weekend.

It was part of a much greater scheme of renewals over Easter, which involved more than 600 worksites.

Unlike at Christmas, train services continued throughout the holiday, but some were inevitably changed or disrupted so that engineers could take possession for many of the projects. More than 12,000 metres of new rail and 33,000 tonnes of ballast were being laid over the four days, although Network Rail said 95 per cent of the network was unaffected.

There was one unplanned addition to the closures, when it became clear that Nuneham Viaduct could not be used, with the result that no through trains could run between Oxford and Didcot Parkway. Work on the bridge is continuing.

West Coast South route director James Dean said: ‘I’d like to thank people travelling over Easter for their patience while we carried out our essential railway upgrades to improve journeys for passengers and freight in the future.

‘We never take the decision to close Euston station lightly, and this major railway junction overhaul in Watford just wouldn’t have been possible without closing all four lines entirely. Now it’s complete, after two years of major work, passengers will start to see the benefits immediately as it will mean faster, more reliable journeys.’

TP