People heading on an Easter getaway this weekend are facing travel chaos, as multiple train lines close and millions hit the road.
Traffic queues are expected to form along major roads, as people try to get ahead of the estimated 19 million people expected to drive on Good Friday.
Heavy rain forecast by the Met Office could also disrupt journeys, the RAC has warned, as a yellow rain warning has been put in place across the south west of England.
Train passengers are also being warned over disruption as Network Rail prepares to begin its Easter engineering work – closing a number of railway lines.
The most significant impact will be at London Euston – which will have no services to or from Milton Keynes on Saturday and Easter Sunday, and a reduced timetable on Good Friday and Monday.
Those planning on flying to their Bank Holiday destinations will also face “major disruption”, as Gatwick airport workers are set to strike over pensions.
The evening express from London to Edinburgh that became an overnight sleeper
Maundy Thursday, one of the busiest days of the year for rail passenger, was marred by some extreme delays.
One Great Western Railway train from Exeter to London Paddington arrived four hours late after striking an animal on the line east of Swindon.
The train was damaged and passengers were transferred to another service.But far worse was the eight-hour delay for an LNER train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley due in 11.15pm on Thursday – which actually arrived at 7.15am this morning.
The train was stuck for five hours between Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City because of a lineside fire that closed the East Coast main line.
By the time it reached Doncaster, five hours late, a Network Rail engineering train had broken down, blocking the line.
When that was finally cleared, the train had to travel slowly through North Yorkshire because of a Network Rail “possession” of the fast line for engineering.
Passengers are entitled to a full refund. The Independent has asked LNER if they might get more than that.
Yellow weather warning in holiday hotspot
A yellow weather warning for rain has been issued across parts of Cornwall and Devon.
The holiday hotspots could be hit by flooding with bus and train service likely to be affected.
Flooding and spray on roads could also make journey times longer.
The Met Office has issued the warning from 6pm on Friday until 9am on Saturday.
The Met Office said: “20 to 40 mm of rain is likely to build up widely by Saturday morning and 50 to 75 mm rain is likely over and near areas of higher ground, especially Dartmoor.”
“Give yourself the best chance of avoiding delays by checking road conditions if driving, or bus and train timetables, amending your travel plans if necessary,” the Met Office added.
Busiest day of the year so far for aviation
Aviation analytics firm Cirium says Good Friday, 18 April, will be the busiest day of Easter, with 2,949 flights taking off from UK airports – a departure every 30 seconds on average.
Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, confirms its busiest day will be Good Friday.
The carrier plans more than 1,100 flights to or from UK airports carrying up to 145,000 passengers.
The top sunshine destinations are Dalaman in Turkey and the Spanish islands of Mallorca and Tenerife.
Ryanair says 36.2 million of its passengers have been impacted by air traffic control restrictions in the last year, with more than 200,000 flights delayed.
Travellers to and from France and Spain are worst affected.Ben Smith, chief executive of Air France-KLM, said in March: “The shortage of air traffic controllers [in France] is 20-25 per cent, which means many of our flights are going to be delayed, and we already know this.”
According to Cirium, the top 10 international destinations for Easter (by seats, scheduled to depart from UK airports over the Easter weekend 18-21 April) are:
- Dublin: 69,217
- Amsterdam: 59,631
- Alicante: 45,364
- Malaga: 45,123
- Palma: 42,830
- Dubai: 40,417
- Faro: 37,580
- Tenerife: 36,650
- Barcelona: 33,838
- Paris: 30,659
The most popular country is Spain, with half of the top 10. Portugal and Turkey are in joint second place.
ICYMI: Where will the worst traffic be over Easter? These are the predictions from The Independent
The AA and RAC agree the busiest day over the Easter spell will be Thursday, with 19.8 million motorists in their vehicles at some stage of the day.
Good Friday looks almost as busy. Easter Sunday will see the lightest traffic.
For holiday journeys within the UK, The Independent has used data from previous years to predict the heaviest traffic on four key arteries:
- M6 north of Birmingham, especially Preston and beyond as holidaymakers head for Blackpool and the Lake District.
- M5 southwest from Birmingham to Bristol and Exeter
- A303 southwest through Wiltshire
- M25 particularly between the M23 and M40 junctions to the southwest, and the Dartford Crossing to the east.
Delays of almost an hour expected on the M1
A collision on the M1 near Luton is expected to cause delays of up to 50 minutes.
National Highways has said the M1 northbound between junctions J8 and J9 are closed.
Traffic is expected to return to normal between 12.30 and 12.45 am.
Ferries cancelled in western Scotland
In the Western Isles of Scotland, ferry passenger using Caledonian MacBrayne face a range of problems.
On Friday, the link to South Uist from Oban is cancelled because of forecast adverse weather, with risk of disruption on Saturday.
Other ferries serving the Hebrides may stay in port as a result of strong northeasterly winds.
On the Oban-Coll-Tiree route, the ferry firm warns: “Due to forecast of adverse weather, this service is liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice.”
Until Tuesday 22 April, the link from Mallaig to Armadale on Skye has cancellations due to staff shortage.
Arran ferries are currently sailing from Troon, not Ardrossan, to Brodick.
Train travel disruptions
Major engineering work is set to cause disruptions to train travel this Easter.
Work will be taking place in the following locations:
- London Euston: lines to and from London Euston will be closed from Saturday 19 to Monday 21 April. Alternative ways of getting to and from central London will be available from the north west, Birmingham, and Milton Keynes
- London Victoria: from Friday 18 to Monday 21 April there will be no Southeastern services will call at London Victoria. Southern and Gatwick Express will have a reduced service to and from London Victoria
- Carlisle / Glasgow / Edinburgh: from Saturday 19 to Monday 21 April. Buses will replace trains between Carlisle and Glasgow via Lockerbie; between Carlisle and Dumfries; and between Carlisle and Edinburgh
- Significant work will also be taking place at London Paddington (Friday to Monday), at Manchester / Stockport (Saturday to Monday), at Cambridge (Friday to Monday), at Southampton (Friday to Sunday), and in the Leeds / Huddersfield area (Saturday to Monday)
Gatwick airport Easter strikes may cause ‘major disruption’
More than a hundred workers at Gatwick airport are striking over pay and pensions this Easter weekend.
Members of the Unite union working for ground handling firm Red Handing have rejected a last-minute deal to call off the strikes.
That means some baggage handlers, check-in staff and flight dispatchers will strike from Friday until Tuesday morning.
The industrial action could affect about 50 flights a day.
Unite said there would be “major disruption” for passengers flying with Norwegian, TAP and Air Peace airlines.
But Nick Williams, head of passenger operations at Gatwick, said only a small number of airlines would be affected.
“It’s a very small number of airlines who don’t operate a huge number of flights, so we’re not talking about big-scale impact,” he said.
“We’re working really closely with those airlines to try and mitigate that impact and hope that as many of those flights operate as close to schedule as possible.
“We’d advise passengers to check their airline of the weekend.”
Severe delays on the M25
Delays are expected on the M25 until midday following a collision.
Lanes on the M25 anticlockwise between junctions J9 and J8 are closed, according to National Highways.
Disruption is expected to last until 12.15.
Road traffic collision on M4
Severe delays expected on the M4 due to a collision just outside Swindon.
National Highways has said the M4 eastbound exit slip at Membury Services has closed.
The area is expected to clear at between 12:30 and 12:45 .
Source: independent.co.uk
