Passengers to check before travelling as Network Rail upgrades track between York and Newcastle

Thursday 20 Jan 2022

Passengers to check before travelling as Network Rail upgrades track between York and Newcastle

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

Essential track upgrades will keep services running fast and reliably between York and Newcastle
Limited services and rail replacement buses between York and Newcastle on 29/30 January, 5/6 February, 12/13 February 2022
Passengers asked to plan ahead via National Rail Enquiries or with their train operator

Essential track upgrades will bring more reliable journeys between York and Newcastle from February.

Network Rail will replace over three kilometres of track – refreshing the rails, sleepers and supporting stones – on 29/30 January, 5/6 February, and 12/13 February 2022. Trains will then be able to run more reliably, providing on-time journeys with fewer delays.

Switches and crossings – moving sections of track that guide trains from one track to another – will also be refurbished to reduce the need for further service changes in this location.

Limited services and rail replacement buses will keep passengers moving between York and Newcastle through the three weekends of work, as sports fans travel to watch the Six Nations game at Murrayfield on 5 February and Newcastle United play against Aston Villa at St James’ Park on 13 February.

Those travelling with CrossCountry, Grand Central, LNER, Lumo, Northern or TransPennine Express, should plan their journey in advance using the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner.

Neil Henry, East Coast Operations Director for Network Rail, said: “We’re doing this work across a few weekends to keep the railway open for passengers, including key workers, through the week – and we’re packing in additional work to minimise future disruption. When complete, this vital section of the East Coast Main Line will see fewer delays, helping to provide better journeys along the whole route.”

Weekend service changes on the East Coast Main Line - Twitter graphic

LNER will operate services between York and Newcastle via a diversionary route. This will see a reduced number of services with extended journey times. Rail replacement coaches will operate between York and Newcastle to provide connections for passengers travelling to and from Durham, Darlington and Chester-le Street in all three weekends and to and from Northallerton in the second and third weekend.

A spokesperson for train operators on the East Coast Main Line, said: “Passengers planning to travel over these three weekends should plan their journey in advance through their train operator’s website or via National Rail Enquiries. The improved track will allow us to run trains more reliably, helping passengers get to where they need to be, on time.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Travel information

Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 January 2022

CrossCountry – buses replace trains between York and Newcastle, calling at Darlington and Durham.
TransPennine Express – there will be no trains between York and Newcastle.
LNER - one train will run per hour each way between Newcastle and York via a diversionary route with journey times extended by approximately one hour. Replacement coaches will run between York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. Trains from Lincoln will run to/from Newark and trains to/from Harrogate will run to/from Leeds.
Lumo - services will not be running between Newcastle and London however, amended services will run between Newcastle and Edinburgh to minimise disruption. During these planned track upgrades, we encourage all customers to plan their journeys ahead of time and check our website for updated service times.

Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 February 2022

CrossCountry – buses replace trains between York and Newcastle, calling at Darlington and Durham.
Grand Central – an amended service will run between London King’s Cross and Sunderland. No Grand Central trains will call at Northallerton. Replacement buses will run between Northallerton and York, connecting with train services.
LNER – one train will run per hour each way between Newcastle and York via a diversionary route with journey times extended by approximately one hour. Replacement coaches will run between York, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. Trains from Lincoln will run to/from Newark and trains to/from Harrogate will run to/from Leeds.
Northern – changes to individual journeys, with buses replacing trains for stations between Middlesbrough and Newcastle.
TransPennine Express – there will be no trains between York and Newcastle. Services between Manchester stations and Redcar Central will not call at Northallerton. Replacement buses will run between Newcastle and York.
Lumo - services will not be running between Newcastle and London however, amended services will run between Newcastle and Edinburgh to minimise disruption. During these planned track upgrades, we encourage all customers to plan their journeys ahead of time and check our website for updated service times.

Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 February 2022

CrossCountry – buses replace trains between York and Newcastle, calling at Darlington and Durham.
Grand Central – an amended service will run between London King’s Cross and Sunderland. No Grand Central trains will call at Northallerton. Replacement buses will run between Northallerton and York, connecting with train services.
LNER – one train will run per hour each way between Newcastle and York via a diversionary route with journey times extended by approximately one hour. Replacement coaches will run between York, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. Trains from Lincoln will run to/from Newark and trains to/from Harrogate will run to/from Leeds.
TransPennine Express – there will be no trains between York and Newcastle. Services between Manchester stations and Redcar Central will not call at Northallerton.
Lumo - services will not be running between Newcastle and London however, amended services will run between Newcastle and Edinburgh to minimise disruption. During these planned track upgrades, we encourage all customers to plan their journeys ahead of time and check our website for updated service times.

Contact information

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

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Louise Leighton
Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
07858 375508
louise.leighton2@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

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

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, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, 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.

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