Rail passengers travelling for the Easter weekend have said boarding a train in London was “like the last train out of Saigon” on Good Friday.
Images on social media showed thousands queueing at St Pancras Station in the capital amid high volumes of travellers and service disruption, including the closure of Euston Station from April 7 to 10 for track improvements and service reductions on a number of Tube lines.
Ruaridh Pritchard, a writer from the capital, was delayed for three hours on his way to Stockport for an Easter weekend with friends and described “arguing and pushing” in the crowds.
St. Pancras coping well with this weekend’s Euston closure. ? pic.twitter.com/dlCDE79131
— Ruairidh Pritchard (@RooPritchard) April 7, 2023
“St Pancras was mayhem, limited crowd control,” the 33-year-old told the PA news agency.
“Staff are doing the best they could under the circumstances. Lots of people arguing and pushing – it was like the last train out of Saigon.
“(It has) kind of put a dampener on the weekend, I’ve lost half a day of Easter.”
Sophie Earish, a student from Wembley Park, said her normal 20-minute Tube journey to St Pancras took an hour due to closures on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines.
When she arrived at St Pancras Station, on her way to visit her partner in Loughborough, the 26-year-old said she then had to queue for an hour and a half for a train north.
Chaos at @StPancrasInt and @TfL . WHY WHY WHY is is acceptable to do engineering works on EASTER WEEKEND?! What kind of planning is that?? Truly disgusting and quite frankly dangerous pic.twitter.com/XEnekKDAMn
— sophie (@TT_sophie_GB) April 7, 2023
“I didn’t realise Euston was closed this weekend causing this mess,” she told PA.
“The queues to get to trains on the platforms were chaotic… why do they think it’s acceptable to do engineering works over the Easter weekend? It’s ridiculous, it seems to be the same every year.”
London Euston Station is closed over the Easter weekend due to engineering works between the travel hub and Milton Keynes Central.
Reminder: Euston station is closed this bank holiday
To avoid changes on other routes and rail replacements coaches joining busy roads, travel after the Easter weekend
Thank you for understanding while our project teams work hard to deliver improvements to the network https://t.co/FHED6BJ2HM
— London Euston (@NetworkRailEUS) April 7, 2023
A statement on London Euston’s Twitter account said: “To avoid changes on other routes and rail replacements coaches joining busy roads, travel after the Easter weekend.
“Thank you for understanding while our project teams work hard to deliver improvements to the network.”
Planned works also mean the Elizabeth line is partially closed across the weekend.
