Work to improve the railway with an investment of £86 million is being carried out by Network Rail at 300 worksites over the long Easter weekend.

In the south of England the junction at Battersea will be rebuilt. The work will include 6km of new signalling and comms cables, while new signalling will be installed at Lewisham.

More than 5km of track will be laid between Eastbourne and Hastings, and Pevensey level crossing will be renewed. Track will also be replaced in the Bromley North line, and work to prevent landslips will be carried out at Chislet, between Canterbury West and Minster.

Further west, engineers will stabilise a railway cutting between Swanwick and Fareham. Following previous landslips in the area, the cutting has been monitored to make sure it remains safe and a sheet piled wall will be installed, while rocks on the cutting slope should ensure stability.

Engineers will take advantage of the nine-day possession to strengthen the footbridge at Hamble station, cut back vegetation between Fareham and Swanwick to reduce the risk of trees or leaves falling on the railway, and replace 10 wheel timbers on the viaduct over the River Itchen between Bitterne and St Denys. The new ‘timbers’ will actually be made of a synthetic alternative called Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane. It should last 30 years longer than the wooden versions and will require less maintenance.

In north west England there will be work to prepare the railway for the project to rebuild Greek Street bridge in Stockport, which is costing almost £20 million, while the West Coast Main Line will be blocked north of Carlisle, so that signalling can be upgraded between Carlisle and Carstairs. There will be replacement buses for Glasgow & South Western services via Dumfries as well as the main line trains towards Glasgow Central. There will be track upgrades near Liverpool Lime Street and improvements at Salford Central.

The southern end of the West Coast Main line will also be affected by various possessions.

No trains will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central between 19 and 21 April, and Euston will be closed. Caledonian Sleepers will be diverted to London King’s Cross. Network Rail is also using the station closure to carry out improvements to at Euston, including upgrading the toilets and replacing signs to make it easier for passengers to find their way around the station.

Other work in the area will include the replacement of more than 350 metres of track near Hemel Hempstead, and upgrading 200 metres of drainage near Leighton Buzzard.

Network Rail’s head of Euston station operations Amanda Webster-Uz said: ‘There’s a significant amount of work happening over the Easter bank holiday to improve the reliability of the railway for both passengers and freight. Whilst the railway to Euston is closed, we’re also taking the opportunity to improve the station itself.

‘We’re encouraging passengers to check their journeys in advance and, where possible, travel before or after the Easter weekend.’