Rail users warned about delays

Delayed engineering work caused massive disruption in January

People travelling on the West Coast Mainline over the bank holiday are facing delays due to track upgrades.

A journey from London to Manchester is about an hour longer and passengers are being advised to plan their routes using the National Rail website.

But rail firms said there are 3,500 more trains this holiday compared with last year with most running normally.

Meanwhile, bank holiday motorists on the M5 near Bristol faced a second day of chaos after a multiple pile-up.

Seven vehicles were involved in a collision southbound between junctions 19 at Portishead and 20 at Clevedon.

The motorway was reduced to one lane, with warnings of 30-minute delays after the crash at 1330 BST.

Major August Bank Holiday events and traffic congestion hotspots Enlarge Image

All lanes were re-opened by 1430 BST.

On Friday, a fatal incident on the same motorway caused 20-mile tailbacks.

The M2 eastbound was closed on Saturday between junctions two and three, due to a serious incident.

A Highways Agency spokesman said the total volume of traffic on the roads was slightly down on last year.

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) said there were no major problems on the network.

People using the West Coast Mainline should plan their routes and expect longer journey times.

Track and points are being upgraded on the line, which would be back to normal on Monday afternoon.

Many northbound services from London Euston - run by Virgin Trains, London Midland and Southern - are affected by engineering works on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Buses will replace trains on more than 1,000 miles of rail routes over the weekend.

But Atoc said there were 15% fewer replacement bus services than during last year's August Bank Holiday.

It says that work is scheduled for bank holiday weekends because fewer people use the network then.

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