Network Rail has issued a reminder to passengers that there will be no trains in or out of London King’s Cross this weekend as work continues on the East Coast Upgrade.
Vital upgrades to the signalling system will take place in the latest stage of the £1.2billion investment in the route.
Passengers are urged not to travel to or from London on the East Coast Main Line.
The lines between Peterborough and King’s Cross and Hitchin and London St Pancras International will be closed for ‘just the second time in two decades’.
This includes the Moorgate line via Hertford North. Trains will still be running between King’s Lynn, Cambridge and Hitchin.
Passengers who absolutely must travel should allow significantly more time for their journeys as travel times will be extended and they will need to change trains or use bus replacement services, both of which will be incredibly busy.
Passengers who must travel should plan ahead via National Rail Enquiries or via eastcoastupgrade.co.uk.
On Saturday, 29 February and Sunday, 1 March, there will also be no services in or out of London King’s Cross, with the same impact on services.
Ed Akers, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, said: "We know that this is disruptive and we do apologise for this. Unfortunately, it is necessary to enable us to progress on this work, which will create more services, faster services and thousands more seats for passengers."
There are various changes to services planned throughout January and February and Network Rail has this week announced there will be further changes to come later in 2020 and into 2021.
Whilst still in the planning stages, the rail industry has released the next set of provisional dates which will impact on passenger services. These are:
– No services to or from London King’s Cross on Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 June.
– A reduced long-distance service planned between Saturday, 5 September and Sunday, 13 September.
– No services to or from London King’s Cross on Saturday, 5 and Sunday, 6 September.
These dates are provisional and subject to change, but Network Rail and train operators have announced them now to give passengers as much advance notice as possible.
There will also be a period of prolonged disruption from Saturday, 19 December 2020 through to late March 2021 affecting weekdays and weekends, with a mixture of reduced services and no services at King’s Cross.
Further information will be announced as soon as the details are available.
