A heads up to people planning a trip, as King’s Cross station will be closed on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September 2020.
Over the weekend, Network Rail engineers will be carrying out work towards the re-opening of a disused railway tunnel near King’s Cross, which will allow more trains to use the station during the rush hours.
Disused tunnel on the right side (c) Network Rail
When combined with upgrades elsewhere on the route, the East Coast Upgrade will also deliver an extra 10,000 seats every day. Apart from increasing capacity on the line, the cleaned-up layout allows the new Azuma fleet to utilise its increased acceleration when leaving the station so journeys can be slightly quicker.
Work will also take place to renew the tracks to certain platforms, make improvements to the signalling at the station and strengthen Camden Sewer which runs beneath the tracks.
Edited track layout diagrams based on Network Rail originals
During the closure, people who need to travel to London from the north on the East Coast Main Line will need to change trains at Peterborough onto Thameslink services, which will run to St Pancras International on Saturday 5 September and to Finsbury Park on Sunday 6 September.
Fast Great Northern services from Cambridge will also finish at Finsbury Park instead of King’s Cross, which will extend journey times.
All trains are expected to be busier than normal. Passengers travelling on LNER services must have a seat reservation, which can be made up to five minutes prior to departure.
I can see that reopening the third tunnel will help train movements and not having those complex looking points/crossover hybrids will reduce maintenance but what is the thinking behind losing a platform?
Straightening a curve on the western side to allow for longer trains requires the removal of a little used platform at that end.