Easter travel disruption to hit air, rail, road and sea in UK

theguardian.com:

Holidaymakers trying to get away for the Easter weekend have been warned they are likely to face disruption whether travelling by air, rail, road or sea.

Staff sickness and a shortage of workers have already caused multiple days of chaos for air passengers, with carriers cancelling dozens of flights at short notice, while ferry operators have struggled to meet demand as P&O Ferries services remain suspended.

Travellers have been told they face delays over the bank holiday weekend, and may even have difficulties reaching their destination, regardless of how they travel, amid widespread closures to the rail network and predictions of “huge surges” of vehicles on motorways.

The Easter weekend is the first public holiday since the lifting of almost all Covid travel restrictions, and traditionally signifies the start of the busier spring and summer season.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said in a BBC interview “it would be “extremely busy on our roads, potentially at our ports, particularly at Dover”.

Network Rail, which owns and operates Britain’s railways, has advised passengers to travel either side of the long weekend because it is closing parts of the system to carry out engineering works.

Trains running on the west coast main line, which links London to Scotland, will start and finish at Milton Keynes between Friday 15 and Monday 18 April, while theEuston station in north London will also be closed.

Parts of the railway between Birmingham International station and Coventry will also be closed, as will lines around Crewe station.

The railway closures will affect tens of thousands of Liverpool and Manchester City football fans travelling to Wembley stadium in London to watch their teams compete in the FA Cup semi-final.