Easter holiday rail travellers have hit problems when the West Coast main line was blocked by a fatal accident.
Virgin Trains said services were disrupted after the incident at Wolverton, near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.
Southbound services were finishing at Rugby, a spokesman said.
It meant difficulties a day earlier than expected on the busy line, which will be closing between Milton Keynes and Rugby from Easter Saturday until noon on Easter Monday.
British Transport Police (BTP) said that at 4.09am the driver of a freight train from Southampton to Daventry reported striking an object between Milton Keynes and Wolverton.
A spokeswoman said: "On inspection of the train, the driver confirmed that a person had been struck by a train and medical staff on scene confirmed the incident as a fatality. BTP are currently treating the incident as unexplained and enquiries are ongoing."
A Virgin Trains spokesman said there had been no departures from London Euston, but other companies were accepting its tickets for travel. Virgin was hoping to use the slower of the two lines on the West Coast main line later.
Services in and out of London's Liverpool Street and Waterloo stations will also be disrupted by engineering work during the weekend, although 64,000 train services will run over the holiday period - around 5,000 more than last Easter.
A total of 10 million people will be on the move in the UK over Easter with two million travelling abroad.
