London journeys affected on one Sunday in June as digital signalling upgrades continue

Monday 2 Jun 2025

London journeys affected on one Sunday in June as digital signalling upgrades continue

Region & Route:: Eastern; | Eastern: East Coast

Digital signalling work between Potters Bar and Peterborough/Royston will affect London journeys on Sunday 15 June.

Passengers are advised to plan ahead and check before they travel as there will be significant alterations to services between Peterborough and London King’s Cross.

Most journeys to and from London on the East Coast Main Line will take much longer than normal, with replacement services in operation and passengers advised to check before they travel. Journeys on Saturday 14 June are not affected.

The planned engineering work is part of the £1.4 billion East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), which is introducing digital signalling technology to create a more reliable, efficient and greener railway.

The project recently saw the major milestone of traditional “traffic light” signals being removed from London’s Northern City line following its switch to fully digital signalling.

On Sunday 15 June, colleagues will be carrying out:

High-speed digital signalling testing between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin
Preparatory digital signalling work between Biggleswade and Peterborough

Ricky Barsby, Network Rail head of access integration for the East Coast Digital Programme, said: “We’re continuing the rigorous programme of testing that is required ahead of the introduction of digital, in-cab signalling on the East Coast Main Line. Changing the way we signal trains will make our railway fit for the future, with more reliable and greener journeys.

“We have planned the testing carefully and this particular work will only affect journeys only on the Sunday, not the whole weekend. We thank all passengers affected for their patience and understanding.”

Colette Casey, customer experience director at LNER, said: “While major upgrades are being carried out to the East Coast Main Line, our teams will be working hard to keep customers on the move as smoothly as possible. We know that breaking up a rail journey is never ideal, but we would strongly encourage LNER customers to make use of the rail replacement service provided, connecting Peterborough and Bedford. This will help all customers enjoy a more comfortable journey.”

Click here to learn more about the ECDP project.

Notes to Editors

LNER will operate a reduced service starting and terminating at Peterborough. Rail replacement coaches will run between Peterborough and Bedford, where customers can join Thameslink services to London St Pancras.

Grand Central will run a reduced service from Sunderland to Peterborough, with coach connections to London King’s Cross. There will be no services to and from Bradford.

Hull Trains will have a reduced service which will divert to run to and from London St Pancras.

Lumo will operate a reduced service involving a non-stop rail replacement coach between London King’s Cross and Peterborough.

Great Northern and Thameslink:

No trains will run between:

London King’s Cross/London St Pancras and Finsbury Park
Potters Bar and Peterborough/Royston
Hertford North and Stevenage

An amended train service will operate between:

Royston and Cambridge/Ely/King’s Lynn
Moorgate and Hertford North
Moorgate and Potters Bar
London St Pancras and Gatwick/Brighton

Replacement bus services will run between:

Potters Bar and Hitchin
St Albans and Stevenage via Hatfield
Luton Airport Parkway and Stevenage via Hitchin
Hitchin and Royston
Peterborough and Bedford via Huntingdon and St Neots
Hertford North and Stevenage

The work on Sunday 15 June will involve further system testing using Grand Central Class 180 and GTR Class 717 trains. Over the weekend, the team will carry out high speed running between Finsbury Park and Huntingdon to test updated transitions in and out of the Welwyn to Hitchin section. All testing over the weekend will be conducted over the newly enabled General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, putting us a step closer to deploying European Train Control System (ETCS) over GPRS for the first time on any main line railway.

There will also be further work on “under track crossings” between Biggleswade and Peterborough, undertaken on Sunday evening after testing is completed.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Gareth Dennison
Media relations manager, Eastern region
Network Rail
07561 874858
gareth.dennison@networkrail.co.uk

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