No main line trains at Lichfield Trent Valley on 10-11 and 17-18 October. Replacement buses run to Rugby, and Cross-City trains to Birmingham still run.

If you use Lichfield Trent Valley to get to London, check before you book anything for the middle two weekends of October. The West Coast Main Line through the station closes on both of them.

Network Rail confirmed the dates in a statement on Tuesday 15 September. No trains will run between Stafford and Rugby via Nuneaton on:

  • Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 October 2026
  • Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 October 2026

The work is track renewal between Rugby and Stafford, running at the same time as HS2 construction outside London Euston (Network Rail). National Rail Enquiries is more specific about where the spanners are: engineering work “is taking place between Tamworth and Stafford, closing all lines” (10 and 11 October; 17 and 18 October). Lichfield Trent Valley sits inside that stretch.

October 2026 calendar with 10, 11, 17 and 18 October marked, alongside a summary: no trains between Stafford and Rugby via Nuneaton, replacement buses between Rugby and Stafford, Avanti West Coast diverted via Birmingham New Street, and the Cross-City line not affected.

What runs instead

Network Rail says “Trent Valley stations between Rugby and Stafford will be served by rail replacement bus services”. Lichfield Trent Valley is one of them.

For London Northwestern Railway, which runs the stopping service between London Euston and Crewe through the station (operator’s station page), National Rail sets out the arrangement for both weekends:

  • Euston and Northampton trains will run to Rugby only
  • rail replacement buses will run between Rugby and Stafford
  • passengers are advised to travel on other services between Stafford and Crewe
  • on 10 and 11 October, trains may depart up to 10 minutes earlier or later than usual

Avanti West Coast keeps running to London, but away from here. Three trains an hour are diverted via Birmingham New Street. On 17 and 18 October that is one train an hour each to Liverpool Lime Street, to Manchester Piccadilly via Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Stockport, to Glasgow Central, and to Preston, Glasgow or Edinburgh. North Wales services run between Crewe and Wrexham or Holyhead only. Avanti tickets are accepted at no extra cost on the London Northwestern replacement buses between Rugby and Stafford.

Lumo will not run between London Euston and Stirling on either weekend, and on 17 and 18 October its Preston service is out too.

One late-night detail for anyone heading north on the second Sunday: the 21:25 from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly is diverted and will not call at Stoke-on-Trent or Macclesfield, with a bus running between Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield instead.

The Birmingham trains are not affected

This matters locally, because most Lichfield commuting is towards Birmingham rather than London.

The operators listed as affected on both National Rail pages are Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway and Lumo. West Midlands Railway is not among them. The Cross-City line from Lichfield Trent Valley and Lichfield City into Birmingham New Street is a separate route and is not part of this closure. We could find no engineering work notice for the Cross-City line on either weekend.

That also gives you a second way south. Avanti is running its diverted trains through Birmingham New Street, which the Cross-City line reaches directly from both Lichfield stations. Whether your ticket is valid that way depends on how it is routed, so put the actual date into the National Rail journey planner before you rely on it.

What it means for you

  • Travelling to London on 10, 11, 17 or 18 October? Expect a bus to Rugby and a much longer journey. Build in the extra time before you book a theatre ticket or a connection.
  • Booked already? Amended timetables for engineering work are usually loaded into the journey planner a few weeks ahead. Recheck your booking rather than assuming the original time stands.
  • Heading to Birmingham? Your Cross-City train is not in this closure.
  • Driving instead? The A38 northbound entry slip at Streethay is still closed for HS2 work, so factor that in. Our roadworks and travel page tracks what is shut.
  • Check the bus stop, not the platform. National Rail advises finding the pick-up point from station signage or its Find a Station page, because replacement buses rarely leave from where the trains do.

For normal times and fares from the station the rest of the month, see our guide to Lichfield trains to London.

What Network Rail and the operators said

Gary Walsh, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said the line is “one of Britain’s most important railways, carrying millions of passengers and freight every year”, and that “renewing ageing track now will help deliver a more reliable railway with fewer delays for years to come”.

Chris Liptrot, operations director at Avanti West Coast, said: “While Network Rail carry out this essential work, we’ll be operating a reduced timetable and journeys to and from London Euston will take longer.”

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director at London Northwestern Railway, said rail replacement buses “will be in operation between Rugby and Stafford”, and asked customers to “check before they travel and leave extra time for their journeys when travelling on the affected dates”.

Network Rail says the work is part of a wider £400m investment in the West Coast Main Line.

Sources