Major upgrades between London St Pancras and Bedford this Christmas

Wednesday 13 Nov 2024

Major upgrades between London St Pancras and Bedford this Christmas

Region & Route:

Eastern

|
Eastern: East Midlands

Rail passengers are being urged to check before they travel this Christmas as essential upgrades will be carried out to improve reliability along the rail network for passengers for many years to come.

The work includes a programme to allow East Midlands Railway (EMR) to run its new greener fleet of bi-mode trains up to 125mph in the future, resulting in smoother and faster journeys for passengers travelling to and from the East Midlands and London.

The investment means a section of the Midland Main Line between London St Pancras and Harpenden will be closed for nine consecutive days.

From Saturday 21 to Sunday 29 December, there will be no East Midlands Railway services between London St Pancras and Bedford and no Thameslink train services between London St Pancras and Harpenden.

During this time, Network Rail teams will be working to carry out a wide range of vital improvements including:

• Continuing work to upgrade the overhead lines, which power trains, between London St Pancras and Bedford.
• Replacing the bridge deck on a road over rail bridge at Agar Grove in Camden.
• Installing a new bridge under the railway to provide access to Radlett Strategic Freight interchange.
• Around 50 maintenance and renewal jobs to improve safety and the reliability of the railway network. This includes vegetation management, track inspection and maintenance and signalling power cable and overhead power line renewals to keep the railway safe and reliable.

Passenger services will be severely disrupted while this work is taking place, so customers are being encouraged to plan their whole journey, including connections, as soon as possible.

For customers travelling between London St Pancras and destinations on the Midland Main Line, including Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, Bedford, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, journeys will take longer and involve a rail replacement bus.

Additionally, there will be no Thameslink train services between London St Pancras and London Bridge from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 December as engineering work will be taking place to upgrade the tracks.

Daniel Matthews, head of operations delivery for Network Rail said: “We would like to apologise to passengers who will be impacted by this vital work over the festive period. This work is essential, and it will mean smoother, faster, and more reliable journeys for customers.

“Christmas is a unique opportunity where fewer people are travelling and carrying out work then, is less disruptive to the community and therefore the best time for our teams to access the track.

“While most of the network over Christmas will be operating as normal, we are reminding all passengers to check their journeys before they travel as there is engineering work on several parts of the network on different dates during December.”

Passengers travelling north from London St Pancras will need to use different London stations to connect with rail replacement services to reach their destinations.

EMR passengers can take West Coast Main Line services from London Euston to Milton Keynes to catch a rail replacement bus to Bedford, where they will join their EMR train.

Thameslink passengers travelling to destinations between London and north of Harpenden will take East Coast Main Line services from London Kings Cross to Hitchin or Potters Bar, where they can connect to rail replacement bus services to Luton Airport Parkway, or St Albans City and Harpenden. Thameslink trains will be operating from these stations to Bedford.

Buses will replace all trains between London St Pancras and Harpenden.

Additional staff will also be on hand at stations to keep passengers on the move.

Because of engineering work closing other parts of the rail network over the busy Christmas period, CrossCountry routes* are expected to be much busier than usual. Though train companies will do as much as they can to deliver a swift and reliable service, additional space on trains or rail replacement buses to meet this extra demand is extremely limited. Please bear this in mind whilst travelling over the Christmas period and consider travelling on a less busy day or time where possible.

Philippa Cresswell, Customer Service Director for East Midlands Railway, said: “We are working closely with Network Rail and other operators to keep customers moving throughout the festive period; however, journey times will be significantly longer than normal, with rail replacement buses and amended timetables in place.

“It is also likely that services on Friday, 20 December, and Monday, 30 December, will be very busy. 

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience whilst these vital engineering upgrades take place. This work will directly benefit our customers in the future, allowing the introduction of our new Aurora bi-mode trains.”

Jenny Saunders, Customer Service Director for Govia Thameslink Railway said: “We know how important this time of the year is to our customers, which is why, with such a lengthy period of improvement work planned over the festive period, we want to give them as much time as possible to plan ahead. It really is vital to consider your options now. Thank you for your patience.”

Passengers are being urged to check National Rail Enquires before they travel as well as EMR’s and Thameslink’s websites and social media channels.