Weekend travel chaos hits King’s Cross station with dozens of train cancellations

Services from London King’s Cross were thrown into disarray on Saturday, the first weekend of the EFL football season.

Passengers were being warned to expect disruption on all mainline routes northward out of the station because of “severe” damage to the overhead lines between Stevenage and Peterborough.

“Major” disruption is expected until the end of the day, meaning trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Major operators affected include Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, LNER, Lumo, and Thameslink.

A National Rail spokesperson said: “The overhead wires sustained severe damage yesterday evening between Stevenage and Hitchin. Engineers have been working to repair the damage and 3 out of 4 lines have now been reopened.

“Trains running between London and Cambridge / Peterborough may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

“Major disruption is expected until the end of the day.”

The disruption came on the first weekend of the EFL season, with 30 games set to take place on Saturday – raising the prospect of football fans struggling to make matches up and down the country.

Separately, TfL was reporting major delays on the Hammersmith and City, and Circle Tube lines because of an obstruction on the track.

The Overground also had no service between Highbury & Islington and New Cross / Clapham Junction / Crystal Palace / West Croydon due to a planned closure.

Cancelled trains:

Among the cancelled services were:

7.48am to Sunderland

7.57am to Letchworth Garden City

8am to Edinburgh

8.03am to Leeds

8.06am to Lincoln Central

8.12am to Ely

8.27am to Cambridge

8.30am to Edinburgh

8.33am to Leeds

8.42am to Kings Lynn

8.57am to Letchworth Garden City

9am to Edinburgh