Easter Getaway Plunged into Chaos at Major London Hub
Good Friday travel plans were thrown into disarray for thousands of rail passengers, with scenes at London's St Pancras station being dramatically compared to "the last train out of Saigon". The holiday weekend exodus was marred by significant delays, overcrowding, and reported arguments as travellers struggled to reach their destinations.
Social Media Images Capture Station 'Mayhem'
Images circulating on social media depicted vast queues snaking through St Pancras station. The disruption was caused by a perfect storm of high passenger volumes and planned engineering works, which included the complete closure of London Euston Station from April 7 to April 10. This critical closure for track improvements, coupled with service reductions on several London Underground lines, diverted immense pressure onto other transport hubs.
Ruaridh Pritchard, a 33-year-old writer from London, experienced a three-hour delay on his journey to Stockport. He described a scene of "arguing and pushing" within the crowds. "St Pancras was mayhem, limited crowd control," he told the PA news agency, praising staff who were "doing the best they could under the circumstances." The experience, he said, had "kind of put a dampener on the weekend, I've lost half a day of Easter."
Passengers Voice Frustration Over Holiday Works
The ripple effects of the Euston closure were felt across the network. Sophie, a 26-year-old student from Wembley Park, found her typical 20-minute Tube journey to St Pancras stretched to an hour due to issues on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines. Upon arrival, she then faced a further 90-minute queue for a train to Loughborough.
Expressing a sentiment shared by many, she said, "I didn't realise Euston was closed this weekend causing this mess. 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."
Network Rail had advised passengers to "travel after the Easter weekend" to avoid the disruption caused by the essential upgrade work between Euston and Milton Keynes Central. Further travel misery was confirmed with a partial closure of the Elizabeth line also in effect across the long weekend.
