Christmas rail journeys could take two hours longer than usual

PA

If you're planning to travel home for Christmas by train this year, your journey could take much longer than you think.

According to the Daily Mail, planned engineering works mean that rail passengers face travel chaos this Christmas, with those travelling on the West Coast main line to be worst affected.

Around 100,000 passengers are expected to travel on the line to and from Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow during the Christmas getaway period, making it the route's busiest time of the year.

However, this year journeys could take up to two hours longer and involve several changes and a bus replacement service.

This is largely because engineering works are scheduled to start on a £123million track and signalling project at Bletchley, near Milton Keynes, on Saturday December 22.

This is likely to affect passengers who are planning to travel by train to airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.

But passengers can expect delays, diversions and cancellations all over the UK as engineering works begins on other lines.

Network Rail told the Daily Mail that it sympathised with passengers but the timing of the Bletchley works had been agreed with the train companies and would increase speed and capacity in the area.

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