Bank holiday Monday travel to be blighted by railway engineering works

Up to four million cars are expected to take to the roads

Traffic jams are expected to blight travel on Bank Holiday Monday with up to four million cars expected to take to the road as engineering works close much of the rail network and force people into their cars (Getty)

Traffic jams are expected to blight travel on Bank Holiday Monday with up to four million cars expected to take to the road as engineering works close much of the rail network and force people into their cars.

Motorway delays are likely, according to the AA, with the work causing the closure of three major rail stations in London and parts of the rail route between England and Scotland.

Station and track closures are affecting Southeastern services into London Charing Cross and Cannon Street, Abellio Greater Anglia services into London Liverpool Street, and Virgin, CrossCountry, First TransPennine and Scotrail trains into and out of Glasgow Central and Edinburgh, with rail replacement buses running from Oxenholme in the Lake District.

Caledonian Sleeper Services between Scotland and London have been re-timed, and will not stop at Carlisle, Watford Junction, Preston and Crewe.

The AA estimates that four million drivers will take to the roads, with queues especially likely on motorways including the M1, M6 and M25, especially over early evening as those taking a bank holiday break return home ready for work on Tuesday.

Although the weather was forecast to take a turn for the worse overnight last night – with a cold front moving in from the North bringing wintry showers – some of the sunshine seen earlier in the weekend is forecast to return for the bank holiday, albeit with patches of rain.

Luke Bodset, of the AA, said: “Partly because of the engineering works on the trains, we’re expecting things to get busy on bank holiday Monday and we’re advising motorists to allow extra time for their journey.

“There’s also the play-off final at Wembley and things could get clogged up, especially between 4pm and 8pm, around major cities especially. But how far people travel will partly depend on how good the weather is.”

The Met Office has forecast sunshine and showers, with daytime temperatures on the cool side – the mid-teens centigrade – and overnight frosts. Highways England suspended 155 sets of roadworks over the weekend to ease jams.