Planned upgrades to affect Great Northern and Thameslink services …

Thursday 14 Dec 2023

Planned upgrades to affect Great Northern and Thameslink services over the Christmas period

Region & Route: Eastern ^[1] | Eastern: East Coast ^[2]

Upgrade work continues for the billion-pound government-funded East Coast Digital Programme on Christmas Eve, affecting journeys between London and Peterborough, Ely and King’s Lynn
Cambridge South station and signalling improvement work continue, affecting journeys between Cambridge North and Royston from Wednesday 27 December to Monday 1 January
Passengers urged to check each day before they travel throughout the entire festive period

Network Rail and train operators are reminding passengers to check each day before they travel throughout the entire festive period as further upgrade work for the billion-pound East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) and Cambridge South station takes place over the festive period, from Christmas Eve.

On 24 December, buses will replace trains for Great Northern and Thameslink passengers travelling between:

Potters Bar and St Neots
Potters Bar and Royston
Hertford North and Stevenage

Before 9.00am buses will also replace trains between Finsbury Park and Potters Bar/Hertford North.

Great Northern will operate train shuttle services between London King’s Cross and Potters Bar, Moorgate and Hertford North, and London St Pancras and Finsbury Park, from where customers will be able to connect into rail replacement bus services between:

St Neots and Bedford
Hitchin and Royston
Hitchin and St Neots
Stevenage and Luton Airport Parkway via Hitchin
Hitchin and St Albans City via Welwyn Garden City
Potters Bar and Stevenage
Hertford North and Stevenage

Thameslink and Great Northern customers are also reminded that services on all routes will finish earlier on Christmas Eve. All services will finish by 21.00, but on some routes it may be considerably earlier.

As normal there will be no Thameslink or Great Northern services on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

The project will see traditional, lineside signals replaced with signalling displayed inside drivers’ cabs, which will lead to more reliable journeys for passengers and a greener railway.

On Christmas Eve, work continues to focus on the stretch between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin and will see further installation and testing of key equipment in preparation for trains to operate using digital signalling in this area from 2025.

Further engineering work as part of the Cambridge South station and Cambridge resignalling projects will also mean some changes to Thameslink, Great Northern, CrossCountry and Greater Anglia services between Wednesday 27 December and New Year’s Day.

For Great Northern and Thameslink passengers, buses will replace trains between:

Royston and Cambridge North, 27 & 28 December
Royston and Cambridge, 29 December to 1 January

An additional direct bus service will operate between Royston and Cambridge North connecting with rail services to and from King’s Lynn from 29 December to 1 January. Trains between London and Royston will run to an amended timetable throughout the period, from Wednesday 27 December to 1 January.

Greater Anglia passengers will also see buses replacing trains between:

Audley End and Cambridge North (via Cambridge), 27 December to 1 January
Cambridge and Cambridge North, 27 & 28 December

CrossCountry services to and from Stansted Airport will be affected, as trains are replaced by buses between:

Ely & Cambridge, Cambridge & Stansted Airport, 27 & 28 December
Cambridge and Stansted Airport, 29 December to 1 January

Passengers are being encouraged to check their journey before travelling via National Rail Enquiries or through their train operator.

Sarah Hewlett, Network Rail’s Programme Manager for East Coast Digital Programme, said: “The East Coast Digital Programme will transform the way trains operate on the East Coast Main Line and will result in a more reliable, resilient, and greener railway for our passengers.

“We want to thank passengers for their patience and understanding ahead of this vital work, especially as people travel ahead of Christmas, and appreciate that their journeys will take longer than normal.

“We’re reminding passengers to check their journey before they travel via National Rail Enquiries or through their train operator.”

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for GTR, said: “We are sorry that some of our customers will have more difficult journeys over the festive period while this vital work to improve journeys between London, Peterborough and Cambridge is carried out.

We would like to thank our customers for their patience and encourage them to check their journey each day before they travel over this period”.

There will be further ECDP work taking place over the weekends of 6/7 and 13/14 January, with no direct train services to and from London King’s Cross, St Pancras via Finsbury Park and Moorgate. Buses will replace trains for all stations between London and Grantham/Letchworth Garden City.

Notes to Editors

There will be opportunity to interview Sarah Hewlett about the ECDP work at Peterborough station on Thursday 22 December. Please contact: [email protected] and / or [email protected] to arrange an interview.^[3]^[4]

Digital signalling

Digital signalling, using ETCS is a proven technology already in use in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. The ECDP will see the first introduction of ETCS to an intercity mainline in Great Britain, and will provide the foundation for the future expansion of digital signalling across the network. ETCS is currently in use in the central London section of Thameslink and on the Cambrian Line in Wales, and now on the Northern City Line (Finsbury Park to Moorgate), in the first stage of ECDP.

More reliability: With signalling information being provided directly to the driver, via a screen in their cab, there will no longer be a need to maintain a large amount of lineside equipment involved with traditional ‘traffic light’ signals. As a result, the amount of signalling-related engineering work will reduce in the future by around almost half. Additionally, trains are sometimes affected by signal failures; moving to a modern, digitally based system makes this less likely, potentially reducing thousands of hours of delays, and making train services more reliable.

More punctual services: Digital signalling gives train drivers continual information about the safe maximum speed for their train. It provides drivers with additional information about the route ahead, that today’s fixed ‘traffic light’ signals do not. This enables more ‘efficient’ operations, helping trains stay on time. The new technology allows continuous communication between the trackside and onboard equipment. Signallers can continuously communicate with every train on the network and respond in real time using digital tools to help smooth the flow of trains and recover services more quickly after disruption.

Greener journeys: Digital signalling contributes to a greener railway. The East Coast Main Line is already electrified, and these upgrades will deliver a further 55,000 tonne reduction in carbon emissions over 60 years – the equivalent to over 65,000 one-way flights from London to New York, or over 2 million passenger train journeys from London to Edinburgh. This is because there is much less physical equipment to produce and maintain compared with what’s needed for ‘traffic light’ signals. The estimated whole life carbon saving over a 60-year period (the expected life span of a ‘traditional’ signalling system) is around 39%. The technology also allows gentler braking, meaning journeys are smoother and use less energy. Finally, a more reliable and punctual railway will encourage more people to choose rail over road and air, ultimately reducing transport emissions for the long-term.

For further information about the ECDP please visit www.eastcoastdigitalprogramme.co.uk ^[5]

Cambridge South station and Resignalling project

Cambridge South station will be a new railway station for Cambridge to support the vitally important biomedical campus and serve a growing community of science and health care specialists, employees and hospital visitors. #CambridgeSouth^[6]

The Cambridge Re-signalling project (C3R for short) is investing £194m to renew the signalling system for the Cambridge area, improving efficiency and reliability for passengers and freight users. #CambridgeC3R^[7]

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track ^[8], 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts ^[9] and the thousands of signals ^[10], level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations ^[11] while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies ^[12].

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway ^[13], so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan ^[14], to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

References

^{^} Eastern (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} Eastern: East Coast (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} [email protected] (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} [email protected] (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} www.eastcoastdigitalprogramme.co.uk (www.eastcoastdigitalprogramme.co.uk)
^{^} Cambridge South station (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} Cambridge Re-signalling (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} track (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} bridges, tunnels and viaducts (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} signals (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} stations (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} train operating companies (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} a safe and reliable railway (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} @networkrail (twitter.com)
^{^} http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/ (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)