Rail passengers will be faced with disruption to services in south Essex as they bid to get away for the Easter break thanks to train line upgrades.

Travellers wanting to use the Greater Anglia Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street and the c2c Southend to Fenchurch Street lines from April 19 to 22 are warned to check services before their journeys.

The work is part of Network Rail’s railway upgrade plan – a multi-billion-pound investment in the rail network which the company says will improve passenger journeys.

On the Greater Anglia route, there will be no trains between Shenfield and Southend Victoria with services replaced by buses.

Most c2c services will be diverted to Liverpool Street instead of Fenchurch Street as the station will be closed, except for services on the Rainham line which will be replaced by buses.

The work includes replacing 9.5km of overhead lines as well as structures between Billericay and Shenfield as part of a £46m project to improve reliability. for passengers on the Southend Victoria line;

Two bridges will be replaced between London Fenchurch Street station and Barking. The track will also be renewed at Caroline Street and Davenport Street in Limehouse, East London.

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “The work taking place across the Anglia route is absolutely vital to provide passengers with a much more reliable service.

“We know there is never a good time to close the railway but doing the work over the bank holiday means we can achieve so much more and deliver the punctuality and reliability benefits to passengers at a time when fewer people want to travel.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re sorry when customers are inconvenienced by engineering works, as we know passengers would rather travel by train all the way.

“However, we will make sure that customers get to their destinations, even if part of their journey is by bus.”

Julian Drury, c2c managing director, added: “We’ll be working with Network Rail to do our best to keep customers moving this Easter during these essential upgrades.”

Go to nationalrail.co.uk before travelling.