Weekend rail chaos as West Coast line is 'severed' for track upgrade

And there will be further misery for travellers over the Bank Holiday as upgrades to the West Coast mainline continue.

Travellers will have to endure delays every weekend and on some weekdays until December as part of a £8billion programme to replace 1,695 miles of track. 

Dispute: Richard Branson, whose Virgin trains use the line, is pushing Network Rail to stretch out engineering works until spring to minimise disruption

Network Rail, the company responsible for maintaining the tracks, justifies carrying out the work at peak holiday time, saying that there are fewer commuters, making it 'less disruptive'.

Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Trains service uses the line, and Network Rail are arguing about how quickly the engineering work should be carried out.

Sir Richard wants it stretched out until the spring to reduce the risk of disruption. Network Rail has already been fined a record £14million this year after major engineering works around New Year overran.

Most Virgin Trains services to and from the North will start and terminate at Birmingham International or Coventry. A replacement bus service will run between London Euston, Coventry and Birmingham International.

Virgin has said passengers with savers, open and season tickets will be able to use other rail companies' services.

Anthony Smith, of the watchdog Passenger Focus, said: 'Every time this happens, it severs one of the key arterial links between London and Scotland.'

To make matters worse for Virgin Trains passengers hit with delays, they have been unable to book cheap advance tickets.

Last week it emerged some have been forced to pay up to ten times the cost of the cheapest ticket because Network Rail failed to provide a timetable against which Virgin can price and issue its cheaper discount tickets.

Virgin says it has now made cheap £20 tickets available on some routes.