RAIL passengers are being warned to expect widespread disruption at Easter due to engineering work - with campaigners warning travellers must not see a repeat of the chaos caused by overrunning work at Christmas.
Infrastructure operator Network Rail will carry out the work on the West Coast Main Line, causing disruption to services to and from Glasgow Central and journeys in and out of London Euston.
A section of the line between Glasgow and Carlisle, as well as two further sections, will be shut off from Good Friday, April 3, to Easter Monday, April 6.
The Scots-born boss of Network Rail, Mark Carne, who gave up a £135,000 bonus in December last year following late-running engineering work which caused major problems for trains out of London, said there are contingency plans in place to deal with disruption.
Mr Carne, originally from Helensburgh, said: "We have thoroughly reviewed our Easter improvement work and worked closely with the train operating companies.
"The industry has good contingency plans in place that will put passengers first."
The Easter work will see buses replacing trains on some routes, including between Stirling and Alloa on the Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend and between Dalmarnock and Motherwell on the Saturday.
The London to Glasgow Caledonian Sleeper will also depart two hours early on Good Friday to allow for a longer journey via the east coast.
Other works in England include London's Charing Cross and Waterloo East being shut for Southeastern services and London Paddington to the South-West seeing some journey times double.
One of the biggest projects is at Reading in Berkshire while further work at Watford in Hertfordshire will mean disruption to journeys in and out of Euston station in London.
There will also be disruption to trains in and out of London's Liverpool Street station, while other areas where services will be disrupted include Dorking in Surrey, Crewe in Cheshire, between Lancaster and Carlisle and between Peterborough and Ely.
Last Christmas work at King's Cross and Paddington stations in London overran, causing King's Cross to shut on Saturday December 27 and Paddington to close for part of the day.
The closures led to chaotic scenes at Finsbury Park station in north London with the platforms getting so crowded at one point that arriving passengers were unable to disembark.
Network Rail's own report of the overrun was critical of the company, as was a report by the Office of Rail Regulation, however the firm received no fine over the incident.
The announcement of the Easter work as left passenger groups concerned that the same might happen again.
Bruce Williamson, a spokesman for campaign group Railfuture, said: "Passengers will undoubtedly get annoyed by these works. Inconvenience is inevitable.
"Network Rail must have learnt its lesson from the Christmas fiasco and make sure robust contingency plans are in place to deal with any problems."
Travel expert Ian Baldry of IBPTS travel consultants said: "Easter will be very frustrating for some passengers.
"Network Rail take on such big projects - rather than closing one line and keeping the other open - that it will only take one hiccup from National Rail or a subcontractor to make works behind schedule or overrunning, as at Christmas."
David Sidebottom, director of watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "What happened at Christmas cannot happen again."
Mr Carne added: "Our improvement programme this Easter, delivered by a 14,000 strong army of rail workers, is focused on delivering a better service for passengers.
"We are acutely conscious that many people want to use the railway during the holidays to reunite with their friends and families, which is why the vast majority of the network is running normally over the holiday period but there will be disruption for some."
"I'd like to apologise to any passengers whose plans are affected by our improvement work, but I hope they will understand that this is a quieter time on the railway and we want to minimise the overall impact of these vital projects on passengers.
"Passenger numbers continue to grow and grow and this Easter's investment programme forms a key part of our £38 billion railway upgrade plan that is aimed at meeting this surging demand and improve and expand our congested railway network."
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