Rail services to return to schedule between King's Lynn, Cambridge and London following track repairs

Network Rail has issued the following news release:

Rail services between King's Lynn, Cambridge and London King's Cross will return to their usual schedules from tomorrow, Wednesday 5 October, following completion of work to repair track defects caused by the recent heatwave.

The prolonged spell of dry weather over the summer caused the peaty ground beneath the track along the Fen Line between Cambridge and King's Lynn to shrink, affecting the track above.

Network Rail has now carried out work to realign the track and remove most of the speed restrictions that were imposed to enable the rail service to run safely and to prevent further damage to the track. This means that while services will return to their usual schedules from tomorrow, some journey times may be slightly increased.

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “We have carried out repairs as quickly as possible to reinstate the usual timetable between Kings Lynn, Cambridge and London. I want to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this work.”

Customer Services Director for Great Northern and Thameslink Jenny Saunders said: “I'd really like to thank all our passengers between Cambridge and King's Lynn for their patience while this work was carried out.

“This Wednesday we'll be able to remove the hourly shuttle we've been running on the Fen Line and restore our direct services between King's Lynn, Cambridge and London.

“Services to and from King's Lynn will no longer have to finish early each evening for engineering work and there will be an extra train every hour into London King's Cross as a result, creating more space for our passengers.”

For more information, passengers should see www.greatnorthernrail.com or www.nationalrail.co.uk

Notes to Editors

For more information on how hot weather and dry conditions can affect the railway please visit our information webpage Hot weather and the railway - Network Rail