Passengers on rail services will face replacement buses and major delays over Easter as 17 out of 28 train operators warn that engineering work will disrupt trains.

Football supporters and holidaymakers will be the worst hit with passengers on Virgin Trains travelling on the West Coast Main Line through the West Midlands between London and Glasgow facing the biggest disruption from April 10 to 12.Network Rail is spending £55 million on engineering work with 4,500 people working 200,000 hours.

There will be replacement buses running between Birmingham New Street, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

The line will be closed because of work on a new £22 million tunnel at Tipton. The closure is for the tunnel to be slowly jacked into place over the Easter holiday break.

Trains between London and Birmingham will be diverted via High Wycombe over the weekend, adding 45 minutes to the journey.

Ticket costs will also rise because of the greater distances. A journey on Saturday from London to Manchester will cost nearly £90 return, rather than the usual £66, because of having to go via Doncaster.

Services to Glasgow will involve a replacement bus from Carlisle.

Consumer watchdog Passenger Focus today said the increased costs were unfair.

Director Ashwin Kumar said: “Once again, many passengers will be facing severe disruption while trying to reach friends and family over the Easter holiday.

“Passengers understand that engineering works have to be done but they must be planned by the industry to lessen the effect on passengers. Passenger Focus is seeking a pledge from train companies and Network Rail that they will always seek to ensure that during planned engineering work bus replacement services are used only as a last resort.

“Why should passengers pay more for a longer, less convenient journey?”

Work will also be done on lines at Rugby, Nuneaton and Stoke-on-Trent which will have a knock-on effect to services throughout the West Midlands.

The work is to improve power cables and tracks to support the faster, more frequent services between London, the Midlands, North-West and Scotland.