Rail Net

People who planned to travel for New Year’s Eve might not have their plans pushed through because of the delay in the engineering work at the West Coast Mainline.

Network Rail has apologised to the public because of the delay in the engineering work at the West Coast Mainline in Rugby, Warwickshire, which would close the rail road until the first day of January. This will mainly affect Virgin Trains travelling to and from North Wales, Scotland, North West England and the West Midlands.

Virgin Trains has accused Network Rail of bullying because of the short notice given. Virgin said that they had already brought the case to the Office of Rail Regulation, which in turn said that they would investigate if Network Rail had breached its licence.

Direct trains to and from the Midlands and London Euston will also be affected, including London Midland services as well as some First ScotRail sleeper trains. However, services to London Marylebone will still be available.

According to rail companies, those who have already booked their tickets for the train will have to use rail replacement buses.

Virgin Trains’ Managing Director Chris Gibb said that the engineering plan of Network Rail was a mess.

Gibb also said that there were already 50,000 passengers who had booked with the company their travel tickets for the last day of December.

Network Rail, the one responsible for the delay, said that the work was needed to upgrade the line to allow more trains in the future. It has released a statement asking for apologies for their short notice in the delay.