Hundreds of thousands of football fans are facing travel misery this weekend because of the Easter rail shut down . Despite more than 30 Premiership and Championship games scheduled for the long weekend , large parts of the rail network are set to be closed for repair works . More than half the games are set to be affected by delays and disruption , forcing fans onto the roads . This weekend 's crunch Premiership fixture , Arsenal versus Liverpool in London , will be hit by the rail chaos . Labour has accused the Government of failing to learn from the Boxing Day chaos , when nearly a million football fans faced nightmare journeys to follow their team . Ministers were warned of the potential problems in advance Labour has claimed – but they failed to scrutinise the planned level of maintenance work . Every single major artery on Britain 's railways was shut down . No trains ran between England and Scotland or Wales on the East Coast , West Coast or Great Western mainlines . The Midland , Cross Country and East Anglia were also shut . Despite the chaos the Government has refused to step in this weekend to stop large parts of the rail network shutting down again . The planned engineering works over the Easter weekend will hit all routes to and from London Euston – hitting the busy west coast services between the capital and Birmingham , Manchester and Liverpool . There will be no mainline trains at all from Paddington out towards Swindon , Bristol and Cardiff and further disruptions on lines from London Bridge . All trains out of London Euston - serving the main west coast rail line between the capital and Birmingham , Manchester and Liverpool - have been hit . Trains between Milton Keynes Central and Clapham Junction are also affected as well as those traveling on the line between London Paddington and Greenford , Slough and Windsor & Eton Central , Maidenhead and Marlow , Twyford and Henley-on-Thames . All routes to and from Reading are also hit , with Charing Cross trains to Kent and routes to East Anglia from London Liverpool Street also affected . It means there will no trains for fans wanting to travel to the Reading versus Cardiff City match in Berkshire – forcing supporters onto the roads on replacement bus services instead . There will also be no trains available for the thousands of Liverpool fans wanting to get home after the Arsenal versus Liverpool match on Saturday . Michael Dugher , the Shadow Transport Secretary , said accused ministers or being too 'out of touch ' with ordinary football fans to understand the chaos the rail shutdown will cause . Shadow transport minister Michael Dugher said the Government had not learned from past mistakes . He said : 'Just like on Boxing Day , hundreds of thousands of people will want to travel to see family and also to follow their football team on one of the busiest fixture lists of the season . 'Ministers were asleep on the job over the Christmas period and there is little to suggest they have learnt from their mistakes . 'We have seen no evidence that Ministers have adequately scrutinised the level of planned engineering works or ensured that the necessary contingency plans are in place . 'As usual , it will be hard-pressed passengers - who 've already seen their fares go up by more than 20 per cent on average since 2010 - who will suffer . ' Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has admitted there will be 'frustrations ' on rail services this weekend and urged people to 'think twice ' before travelling . Mr McLoughlin said : 'There will be alternatives and we 've lifted almost all motorway roadworks to help . 'But if you are travelling between Friday and Monday night please check your journey first , it may be that you 'll think twice about how you travel . ' I 'm sorry if it is more difficult - but my promise is that the work is essential and when it 's done the benefits will be worthwhile . ' A spokesman for Network Rail said over the past three months they have contacted both the FA and every individual Premiership club to ensure they ’ re aware about the disruption . A Conservative spokesman said the Easter weekend was a 'sensible ' time to carry out the repair work . He said : 'Thanks to this government 's successful management of our economy we have been able to commit £38billion to upgrading our national rail infrastructure , after 13 years of Labour neglect . 'The £100million of upgrades this Easter is the biggest set of works ever carried out over a long weekend . With passenger numbers down 40 per cent it is a sensible time to do these works , they will unblock current bottlenecks and deliver a better railway for passengers . 'Labour need to get real , they can either support the long overdue upgrade of our national rail network or plunge it back into long term decline . 'On the 7th of May voters will have a clear choice between the Conservative Party securing our country 's long term future or a Labour party that will bring chaos . '
Over 30 Premiership and Championship games scheduled this weekend . More than half the games are set to be affected by delays and disruption . Engineering works affect routes to London Euston , hitting west coast line . Labour say ministers have failed to learn from the Boxing Day chaos .