No King’s Cross trains as station to close for two weekends in January

Network Rail has warned that there will be no trains departing from or arriving into King’s Cross station on two weekends this month due to planned engineering works.

The closures over the weekends of January 6-7 and 13-14 are due to work on the billion-pound East Coast Digital Programme, with upgrades being carried out further up the East Coast Main Line, affecting journeys between London and Peterborough, Ely and King’s Lynn.

This will affect Thameslink, Great Northern, Grand Central, LNER, Hull Trains and Lumo services.

During the work, teams will be carrying out to trackwork, adjusting overhead line equipment, and testing newly installed cabling and equipment.

The project will see traditional, lineside signals removed and replaced with signalling displayed inside drivers’ cabs.

At the same time, a separate project will be focusing on improving mobile phone signal inside the tunnels at the mouth of King’s Cross station.

No trains will run between London and Peterborough, Letchworth Garden City or Stevenage via Hertford North over the two weekends.

During the closures an extremely limited rail replacement bus service will run for passengers travelling between:

• Peterborough and Bedford (for trains to London St Pancras)
• Peterborough and Hitchin (calling at all stations)
• Letchworth Garden City and Hitchin
• Luton Airport Parkway and Stevenage calling at Hitchin
• St Albans and Hitchin calling at Welwyn Garden City, Welwyn North, Knebworth and Stevenage
• Alexandra Palace and Welwyn Garden City calling all stations except Hadley Wood, with an additional stop at Cockfosters to connect with London Underground Piccadilly Line trains
• Cockfosters and Potters Bar calling at Hadley Wood
• Alexandra Palace and Stevenage via Hertford North

Ticket acceptance will be in place on the following alternative routes:

• Thameslink services between Bedford and London St Pancras via Luton Airport Parkway
• Greater Anglia services between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge

Great Northern services will run between Letchworth Garden City and Cambridge, Ely and King’s Lynn.

Passengers are encouraged to check their journey before travelling over the affected weekends via National Rail Enquiries or their train operator.

Ricky Barsby, head of access and integration for the East Coast Digital Programme, said: “Work is progressing well on this pioneering project and we continue to prepare the way for changing the way train services operate on the East Coast Main Line.

“This work has been scheduled years in advance and while we never want to disrupt passengers’ journeys, these upgrades are vital to delivering a more resilient, more reliable and greener railway for the future.

“We want to thank passengers for their patience and understanding and encourage them to check their journey before travelling.”

Jenny Saunders, customer services director for GTR, said: "We are sorry that some of our customers travelling between London and Peterborough or King’s Lynn will have more difficult journeys during the first two weekends in January.   

“We expect the rail replacement bus services over these weekends to be busy and customers may have to queue. We’re therefore encouraging our customers to leave extra time to complete their journeys – as well as checking trains before setting out for the station.

“As ever, we’d like to thank our customers for their patience while this vital work is carried out to make our rail network more reliable and resilient.”