Media centre

Monday 24 Jul 2023

Digital upgrades affecting services over August Bank Holiday weekend

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Coast

Passengers intending to travel to and from London King’s Cross and other destinations on the East Coast Main Line, and all other routes via Peterborough, over the August Bank Holiday weekend (26-28 August 2023) are being asked to plan ahead and check how their journey may be affected.

Further upgrade work is taking place to deliver the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), which will create a more reliable railway with lower emissions through the introduction of digital technology. Traditional lineside signals will be replaced by continuous signalling information to a screen in the driver’s cab.

New equipment and technology is being installed between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin in Hertfordshire, preparing the way for that section to begin using digital signalling from 2025.  Upgrade work is also taking place in the Peterborough area, enabling a move of local signalling control to our modern operating centre in York.  Dynamic software is being introduced to efficiently move trains across junctions and reduce delays; the first such deployment on the East Coast Main Line.

Between late evening Saturday 26 August and early morning Monday 28 August buses and coaches will replace trains on the East Coast Main Line between Grantham, Royston and Potters Bar/Hertford North.  During that time there will be no train services at Peterborough and buses will also replace trains on services between Grantham/Leicester and Ely. The work has been planned to ensure that passengers making trips over the long weekend will have unaffected journeys during Friday and most of Saturday and Monday.

Ed Akers, Network Rail’s Principal Programme Sponsor, ECDP said:

“The August Bank Holiday weekend work will enable further progress towards Britain’s first digital signalling on an intercity mainline.  We’ve carefully planned the work to avoid the busiest travelling times, and to progress two different elements of digital change at the same time.  Both sets of work will contribute to enabling more reliable journeys in the years ahead.

“We are sorry for the disruption that this work will cause passengers, and thank them for their patience.”

A spokesperson on behalf of train operators on routes affected said:

“These upgrades on the East Coast Main Line will mean disruption to services over part of the August Bank Holiday weekend, so we urge passengers to follow the advice given and check their journey before travelling.

“We are working hard to keep people moving, with rail replacement services and diversion routes, but this means some journeys will take longer and may be busier than usual.”