King’s Cross station closures over February half term due to planned engineering works

Passengers have been warned of further train disruption coming at King’s Cross station due to planned engineering works.

Network Rail already finished two weekends of upgrades in January but will close a section of the East Coast Main Line between King’s Cross and Peterborough over the February half term for further work.

The closures from Saturday February 17 to Tuesday February 20 are due to work on the billion-pound East Coast Digital Programme, where a new digital signalling system will be installed, between Welwyn and Hitchin.

During these dates no Thameslink or Great Northern trains will operate between Potters Bar and Peterborough, Potters Bar and Royston and Stevenage and Hertford North.

Additionally, on Sunday February 18, there will be no trains between Alexandra Palace and Potters Bar.

An amended train service will run between:

• King’s Cross and Potters Bar (Saturday 17, Monday 19 and Tuesday 20. On Sunday 18 this will run to/from King’s Cross and Alexandra Palace)
• Moorgate and Potters Bar (Saturday 17, Monday 19 and Tuesday 20. On Sunday 18 this will run to/from Moorgate and Alexandra Palace)
• Moorgate, Alexandra Palace and Hertford North
• Royston and Kings Lynn

An extremely limited rail replacement bus service will run between Peterborough and Bedford via Huntingdon and St Neots, Peterborough and Hitchin, Royston and Hitchin, Stevenage and Luton Airport Parkway via Hitchin, St Albans and Stevenage via Welwyn Garden City, Potters Bar and Hitchin and Hertford North and Stevenage Hitchin and Peterborough.

Weekend work, mostly additional to the East Coast Digital Programme, will see changes to services on Saturday 10 and Sunday February 11. Over this weekend, engineers will be working in the Peterborough area to replace switches and crossings, which allow trains to move between tracks.

Buses will replace Thameslink trains between Peterborough and Huntingdon.

Ricky Barsby, head of access and integration for the East Coast Digital Programme, said: “This is a huge milestone for the project. Commissioning the Welwyn to Hitchin stretch will allow us to start testing the new system with trains and is testament to the incredible hard work and dedication of our engineers over the last year.

“We know this extended work, especially working over a Monday and Tuesday, will cause disruption to passengers and we are very sorry for that. Our engineers will be working around the clock to complete this work.

“We would encourage all passengers to check their journey via National Rail Enquiries before they travel and want to thank them for their patience and understanding.”

Jenny Saunders, customer services director at Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We are very sorry for the disruption this will cause our Great Northern and Thameslink customers. Unusually, this work straddles two working days in addition to a weekend, so please plan ahead and check your journey to see how it is affected.

“The extremely limited rail replacement bus service is likely to be very busy over this four-day period, so we are encouraging customers to travel later in the week if they can.

“In particular, we’d urge people to work from home on Monday 19 and Tuesday February 20 if possible, to keep replacement bus services free for key workers.”