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Monday 12 May 2025

Reminder: London journeys affected this weekend as major signals milestone reached

Region & Route:

Eastern

Passengers are reminded that no trains will run between London King’s Cross and Peterborough this weekend (17-18 May) as work to transform East Coast Main Line continues.

Teams will carry out significant upgrades as part of £1.4 billion East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), including removing traditional signals in a major milestone for the project.

As we prepare for a weekend of service alterations, Network Rail is today releasing an animated video produced with our partners to help explain ECDP and the benefits of digital in-cab signalling. 

Network Rail and the passenger operators have collaborated to produce the video, which outlines the different stages involved with ECDP, and how it will ultimately deliver more reliable, less disrupted, and greener services for passengers on the East Coast Main Line. 

This weekend, colleagues will test digital signalling between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin – ahead of this section going live in early 2026 – and carry out preparatory digital signalling work between Biggleswade and Peterborough.

The signal removal work between Moorgate and Finsbury Park marks a significant milestone, as this section becomes Britain’s first fully ‘no signals’ commuter railway, with trains operating solely with in-cab digital signalling, and not the traditional, trackside traffic-light signals. Great Northern services already use digital signalling on this stretch, so removing the physical signals completes the transition to a fully digital railway route.

Ricky Barsby, Network Rail's head of access integration for the East Coast Digital Programme, said: “We hope people find the video informative as we move forward on our journey to the next generation railway.

“The testing work is another step towards the introduction of digital, in-cab signalling on the East Coast Main Line, enabling a more reliable and greener railway. The work will also see the removal of traditional signals on a stretch of commuter railway in London, pointing the way to the next generation railway.

“We recognise the work will lead to journeys taking longer over that weekend. We would like to thank all those affected for their patience and understanding.”

Due to the engineering work, there will be no services to or from London King's Cross on 17 and 18 May*. Journeys to and from London will take significantly longer than normal, and passengers are urged to check www.nationalrail.co.uk before they travel.

There will be no trains between Peterborough and London King’s Cross, meaning passengers travelling from further north will need to use rail replacement coaches between Peterborough and southern stations. Check details with your train operators.

Passengers travelling via Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham or Chesterfield on East Midlands Railway services should expect trains to be busier than normal due to the closure on the East Coast Main Line.

A spokesperson on behalf of train operators said: “Across the weekend, our colleagues will be working hard to keep people on the move and get them safely to their destination. There is rarely an ideal time to carry out such large-scale engineering work, but these upgrades will bring major improvements to customer journeys in the future. We want to thank all our customers for their understanding across the weekend.”

This weekend will also see track switching equipment renewed and refurbished near Hornsey and Huntingdon, and drainage work completed near Fletton, also contributing to smoother, more reliable journeys on the East Coast Main Line.

Click here for more information on the East Coast Digital programme.