Train link to King’s Cross will shut for two weekends

THERE WILL no trains from Yorkshire to London King’s Cross station for two weekends next year due to improvement work on the East Coast Main Line, rail bosses have announced.

Network Rail has urged passengers not to travel to and from London on the East Coast Main Line on January 25 and 26 as well as February 29 and March 1, as no trains will be calling at King’s Cross.

In addition, there will be five weekends where services on the southern section of the route – which stops in Leeds, Wakefield and Doncaster – will be reduced.

Trains running on January 4 and 5, January 11 and 12, January 18 and 19, February 8 and 9 and February 15 and 16 will be very busy and passengers are advised to allow extra time for their journeys. The weekends of February 1 and 2 and February 22 and 23 will see a normal service.

Network Rail’s decision to close the East Coast Main Line to London over the August Bank Holiday this summer – meaning it coincided with the Ashes Test at Headingley, York’s Ebor Festival and rugby league’s Challenge Cup final – was heavily criticised.

Further disruption is planned from March onwards, and there will be no services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, then a reduced service at King’s Cross on Friday, December 27. The agency responsible for rail infrastructure says the work being carried out on the two weekends next year “can only be carried out safely when no trains are running on this section of the railway”.

Ed Akers, Principal Programme Sponsor for Network Rail, said apologised for the disruption and thanked passengers for their patience.