A warning to travellers that there will be very few trains at King’s Cross station on Sunday 3rd December because the railway north of London will be closed.
(c) ianVisits
Network Rail and the train companies are advising people to avoid travelling on the day, as most services won’t run, and the few that do will be very busy and often have replacement buses along the route. The engineering work that is being carried out is between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin in Hertfordshire and is to prepare the line for a major signalling upgrade that will be switched on in 2025.
- Grand Central – no service
- Great Northern – limited service
- Hogwarts Express – normal service
- Hull Trains – no service
- LNER – no service
- Lumo – no service
Ed Akers, Principal Programme Sponsor for Network Rail’s East Coast Digital Programme, said: “This work is vital for the introduction of digital, in-cab signalling on the East Coast Main Line which will provide a better service for passengers and reduce carbon emissions.
“Wherever possible, we seek to avoid engineering works on nearby routes happening at the same time but on this occasion this has not been possible. We want to thank passengers for their patience and understanding ahead of this work and understand that journeys will take longer than they normally would.
“We’re encouraging all passengers to check their journey before they travel, via National Rail Enquiries or their train operator.”
No services at King’s Cross
Hull Trains will be running a reduced train service which will divert and terminate in St Pancras.
Grand Central will not run any trains at all.
LNER will be operating a reduced service with train services starting and terminating at St Neots. Rail replacement coaches will run between St Neots and Bedford, where passengers can re-join rail services to London St Pancras.
Lumo services will terminate at Peterborough and a limited replacement coach service will be in operation.
Limited service at King’s Cross
Great Northern will be able to operate a train service out of King’s Cross to/from Potters Bar, but will be greatly reduced.
Great Northern will also provide a service between Moorgate and Potters Bar, Moorgate and Hertford North, St Neots and Peterborough, and Cambridge and King’s Lynn. There will be no Great Northern or Thameslink trains between some stations, and no replacement bus service for many of the intermediate stations all day.
In theory trains probably could have gone as far as Biggleswade before terminating. That station also has four platforms, is a similar distance from Bedford railway station, and now has a bus interchange outside the station.
I guess the main difference is that currently Biggleswade’s island platforms are stairs only. St Neots by contrast has lifts to all platforms, and whilst doesn’t have a bus interchange nearby has a large car park.
IIRC there is almost no way to run South bound services into the North bound platforms at Biggleswade, or and its the same thing, run North out of the South bound platforms and rejoin the North lines
I’m guessing Thameslink will be affected too as, although they run to St. Pancras, they pop out onto the same line just outside King’s Cross.
Looks like Thameslink is covered by a separate announcement. Ref: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/potters-bar-20231203/
At least I see the Hogwarts Express will still be running. 😉
Moorgate to Peterborough / Cambridge? Is this a first? And is there a tentative timetable as yet? All stations?
717s I assume due to tunnels… will be interesting to see them on medium-distance duties.
Moorgate – Hertford North
St Neots – Peterborough
Are trains running from st pancreas to Bedford on Sunday the 3rd