Bank holiday travel chaos: Strikes and rail works to disrupt getaways for Brits

29 April 2022, 12:48 | Updated: 29 April 2022, 21:38

Brits are set to face travel chaos throughout the May bank holiday weekend, with strikes and rail works causing major disruption across the country.

Passengers hoping to make the most of the extended weekend could have their plans halted over the disruption.

Short getaways and days out will be hindered by a number of issues across the London Underground, TfL rail and Network Rail.

Several Tube lines - including the District and Bakerloo - will have planned closures while engineering works are carried out, with the Hammersmith and City line and Waterloo and City being fully closed.

Meanwhile, Network Rail is set to carry out 550 upgrade projects over the bank holiday.

No trains will run between Euston and Milton Keynes throughout the weekend due to work on the West Coast Main Line and for HS2.

Upgrades to Victoria station also mean no Southern trains will serve it over the three days, with them instead being diverted to London Bridge.

Passengers have instead been advised to travel either side of the long weekend to avoid problems.

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said: "While the majority of our network will be open for business as usual, we're asking passengers who are planning to use the railway over the Early May bank holiday to check their journey in advance.

"Teams across Network Rail will be delivering £70 million worth of upgrades, helping to make the railway more reliable and fit for the future."

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In the north of England, TransPennine Express (TPE) urged passengers not to travel on Saturday or Sunday due to a walkout by the RMT union.

The firm said it would only run "a very small number of services" on those days.

It comes as part of a long-running dispute over pay and rosters, with the RMT saying the strike aimed to achieve "pay justice for hard-working staff".

TPE customer experience director Kathryn O'Brien said: "With further action by RMT taking place this weekend, we are urging customers once again to avoid travel on our services and travel either side of the weekend instead.

"We are saddened and disappointed that this disruption will mean we are unable to get our customers to where they want to be this bank holiday weekend."

Engineering works in the Motherwell area means no TPE trains will run between Carlisle and Glasgow Central or Edinburgh.

Despite travel chaos on the way for public transport, the roads are expected to be quieter than normal for a bank holiday weekend due to Easter holidays having just come to an end.

The RAC said Monday is likely to see the most traffic, with 3.3 million leisure journeys planned.

However, others have suggested families may opt for "a relatively inexpensive day in a local park or on the coast" instead.

The AA warned that roads could be extra busy around shopping centres, homeware stores and garden centres.