A first closure of the East Coat Main Line for 20 years is fast approaching, as the vital artery is upgraded over the August Bank Holiday.
Critical work as part of the £1.2 billion investment has been planned for the last long weekend of the working year – adding 10,000 seats a day – with passengers warned of significant changes to services and extremely busy trains before and after.
Those travelling to and from London are to be most heavily impacted, with a line closure between Peterborough and Cambridge and London King’s Cross.
Work will also take place at Newark.
The East Coast Upgrade is the biggest investment into the line in a generation and will bring significant benefits for all users of the route, including quicker journeys which are more reliable and up to an extra 10,000 seats per day. It will also mean more services able to run, increasing choice for passengers.
The works over the August Bank Holiday include:
- London King’s Cross: Network Rail will transfer control of signalling equipment from King’s Cross signal box to a state-of-the-art facility in York. This will create a more modern and reliable railway, which is more resilient in times of disruption. We will also carry out work on the overhead line equipment outside of the station to support improvements to the power supply, track layout and signals.
- Stevenage: work will continue on a major project to construct an additional platform to support increased services along the route.
- Newark: Network Rail is renewing a uniquely-designed level crossing which, historically, has had to be renewed every 15 to 20 years. Engineers will replace timbers with a more durable material, which will provide a more reliable railway and greatly reduce the amount of times we need to carry out work in the future.
Ed Akers, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, said: "Major work to upgrade the East Coast Main Line will mean significant changes to services this August Bank Holiday weekend.
"We are urging passengers not to travel on August 24 and August 25 as there will be significant disruption, however if they absolutely must travel we would urge them to plan ahead as services will be extremely busy, you will need to change trains or use a bus replacement service and your journey will take longer.
Most Read
"We appreciate that this will impact on people, however this work is absolutely vital to make sure we continue to provide a railway which is fit for purpose and this upgrade will bring significant benefits to passengers once completed."
The advice is to travel on either Friday, August 23 or Tuesday, August 27. There will be a heavily reduced service on Monday, August 26 as work at Newark continues, with trains expected to be extremely busy.
A spokesperson on behalf of train operators along the route said: “We would like to take this opportunity to remind passengers of significant disruption to rail journeys over the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend as Network Rail continues work on a £1.2billion investment into the line.
“The work means no train services are able to run between Peterborough and London King’s Cross, Cambridge and London St Pancras International and between Stevenage and Moorgate via Hertford North, so passengers are urged not to travel if possible.
“Other routes into London will operate but will be extremely busy. Once completed, the project will enable quicker and more reliable journeys, more frequent services and additional seats.”
HS2 News