Works turn one hour rail journey into 18 hours

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Although UK rail travel over bank holidays is notoriously unreliable, passengers who plan to travel from Kettering to London in late May were stunned when they learned the journey would take 18 hours - and include a stay in Milton Keynes overnight.

A train trip that normally takes around one hour will turn into a journey of 295 miles, and require seven changes, including five buses and a ride on the London Underground.

On Saturday 23 May this combination of connections will be the only way to travel by East Midlands Trains from the town in Northamptonshire to London because of engineering works scheduled over the bank holiday weekend.

Passengers intent on booking the trip to London St Pancras station via the East Midlands Trains website are being directed to take the 1:35pm train on Saturday to Derby, where they will transfer to a bus that will take them to Blythe Bridge.

Four more buses will take them to Crewe, Stafford and Rugby, arriving at Milton Keynes at 11:20pm.

After a few hours of rest on the floor of the rail stations there, the train to London departs at 4:53am, arriving at London Euston at 8:01am, from where a short Tube journey will take them to St Pancras.

Tickets for the trip range in price from £40.50-£67.

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