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Thursday 22 Jan 2015

Allow an extra hour to cross London, warns Thameslink ahead of vital weekend engineering work

Region & Route:

| Southern

Essential improvement work being carried out by Network Rail to improve the track and overhead lines between St Pancras and Kentish Town means there will be no Thameslink or East Midlands trains between West Hampstead Thameslink station and Farringdon in central London.

Thameslink trains from Sutton will run to and from London Blackfriars only and ongoing engineering works at Wimbledon mean there will be no trains between Wimbledon and Sutton.

Justin Page, Network Rail area director, said: “This investment is absolutely vital to help us deliver a better service for passengers. We know that people’s journeys will be disrupted but it is only by improving our infrastructure that we can deliver the safe and reliable railway that many people rely on.

“We would like to thank passengers in advance for bearing with us over these weekends as it will mean some changes to their travel plans.”

Anyone travelling with Thameslink will be able to use their rail ticket to take the tube to make their connections but this is not a step-free route. Passengers with restricted mobility should avoid travelling if possible or call the assisted travel line on 0800 058 2844.

Passenger Service Director for Thameslink Stuart Cheshire said: “Network Rail’s improvement work will help us deliver more reliable services in the future but it will add an hour to journeys across London for this weekend and we don’t want people to miss their connections.

“As well as the Tube from West Hampstead, passengers to and from Harpenden and St Albans may wish to use the Great Northern route from Hatfield for direct services into London King’s Cross. From here they can travel one stop on the Circle, Metropolitan or Hammersmith & City line for onward Thameslink connections at Farringdon.”

During the weekend, Network Rail will be upgrading sets of points, which allow trains to move from one track to another, at Kentish Town and St Pancras. They will also be upgrading overhead lines at St Pancras, and carrying out signalling work associated with the £6.5bn Thameslink Programme at West Hampstead.

Network Rail carries out as much work at night as possible, however, due to the nature and volume of work, weekend closures are sometimes necessary.

For information and travel advice, visit thameslinkrailway.com/engineering or @TLRailUK or visit the National Rail Enquiries website where details of alternative transport are detailed http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/currentAndFuture.aspx. For passengers at Kentish Town there will be replacement buses on both Saturday and Sunday, to and from West Hampstead Thameslink and London St Pancras International.