REMINDER: No trains between London and Peterborough or Royston for two weekends as East Coast Main Line receives important upgrades

Network Rail has issued the following press release about major changes to Thameslink and Great Northern services over the next two weekends.

Ricky Barsby, head of access & integration, East Coast Digital Programme, is available for interview at Peterborough station on Thursday 23 January (after 10am). To arrange, contact gareth.dennison@networkrail.co.uk/07561874858. Interviews over Zoom or in other locations on the East Coast Main Line may also be requested and we will facilitate where possible.

Passengers using the East Coast Main Line are being reminded to plan ahead and check before they travel ahead of two consecutive weekends of planned engineering work, starting this Saturday.

Rail replacement buses will be running, and London King’s Cross station will be closed on 25-26 January and 1-2 February, as vital improvements are made to the track, drainage and overhead lines which power trains (see editors’ notes for details and a map).

Preparatory work is also taking place as part of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), which will deliver more reliable, greener journeys through the introduction of in-cab digital signalling.

On Saturdays, there will be no Thameslink or Great Northern trains between London and Peterborough, Royston, and Stevenage via Hertford North. On Sundays, these tracks will be closed again, although trains will run slightly further south of Royston – to and from Letchworth Garden City.

Arsenal football match, 2 February

On Sunday 2 February, rail replacement buses will not run beyond Alexandra Palace, to or from Finsbury Park, between 12.30pm and 8pm because of operators’ concerns around safety and overcrowding. The limited national rail replacement bus service could not safely accommodate the numbers of fans using them to reach the Arsenal v Manchester City match at the Emirates Stadium.

Fans are advised to travel via the Midland Main Line on Thameslink services to London St Pancras International, for Victoria or Piccadilly line services to Finsbury Park or Highbury & Islington stations.

All passengers should allow plenty of extra time and plan ahead online using National Rail and Transport for London journey planners.

Simon Pumphrey, Network Rail infrastructure director, said: “The work our teams will be carrying out over both these weekends goes well beyond regular maintenance tasks.

“This work is carefully planned to maximise the time when there are track closures, allowing us to undertake several projects at once and avoiding more frequent track closures.

“We’re sorry to passengers affected by the disruption and thank them for their patience as we make improvements that will help make the railway more reliable.”

Jenny Saunders, Govia Thameslink Railway’s customer service director, said: “We’d like to thank passengers for their patience during upgrade works to bring you more reliable journeys on the East Coast Main Line.

“It means we’ll be running a significantly altered service on our Thameslink and Great Northern routes north of London, over two weekends at the end of January and start of February.

“We’ve arranged replacement buses, shuttle trains between Royston or Letchworth and King’s Lynn, and ticket acceptance on other routes to help you complete your journeys.

“Please check one of the online journey planners before you travel and allow extra time to reach your destination.”

Other East Coast Main Line operators heading further north will also be running amended services, with rail replacement bus services covering part of the journey, more details can be found here.

The engineering work includes renewing the line north of Stevenage, investment in bridge timbers south of Finsbury Park and, at Welwyn Garden City, upgrading switch and crossing equipment which allows tracks to separate, cross and rejoin.

Tunnel drainage work will be undertaken Hadley Wood, and there will be improvements to the overhead line kit at Biggleswade and Bounds Green.

Under-track cables will be installed between Biggleswade and Peterborough to prepare for digital in-cab signalling, under the £1.4 billion ECDP project. It follows further testing of the new signalling system having been carried out between Welwyn and Hitchin during the Christmas shutdown.

Check all parts of your journey with National Rail Enquiries or your train operators before travelling.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

On 25-26 January and 1-2 February, no trains will run between:

• London and Peterborough (from 8pm on Sunday 26 January only there will be trains between St Neots and Peterborough)
• London and Royston (Saturdays), London and Letchworth Garden City (Sundays)
• Moorgate and Stevenage (via Hertford North)
• Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City

A rail replacement bus service will run between:

• Peterborough and Bedford via St Neots
• Peterborough and Hitchin
• Royston (or Letchworth on Sundays) and Hitchin
• Stevenage and Finsbury Park via Hertford North (note: on Sunday 2 February between 12.30pm and 8pm, buses will run between Stevenage and Alexandra Palace only via Hertford North)
• Stevenage and St Albans City via Welwyn Garden City
• Stevenage and Luton Airport Parkway via Hitchin
• Welwyn Garden City and Finsbury Park, calling at all stations (note: on Sunday 2 February between 12.30pm and 8pm, buses will run between Stevenage and Alexandra Palace only)

Please note, buses are limited and are expected to be extremely busy. You may have to queue and may not be able to board your chosen service.

Engineering work is taking place between Tottenham Hale and Stratford, and between Stratford and Shenfield, on 25 and 26 January, with diversions and rail replacement buses in operation.

Digital signalling

Digital signalling, using the European Train Control System, is a proven technology already in use in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. The East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) will see the first introduction of ETCS to an intercity mainline in Britain and will provide the foundation for the future expansion of digital signalling across the network. ETCS is currently in use in the central London section of Thameslink and on the Cambrian Line in Wales, and now on the Northern City Line (Finsbury Park to Moorgate), in the first stage of ECDP. For further details about ECDP, visit www.eastcoastdigitalprogramme.co.uk.