Part closures of King’s Cross to facilitate East Coast upgrade

Network Rail has confirmed an extensive programme of closures and part-closures of the East Coast Main Line between Grantham, Peterborough and London King’s Cross, as part of its £1.2 billion East Coast Upgrade.

The upgrade has been designed to yield two additional longdistance high-speed paths between London and Doncaster by December 2021, via a suite of interventions including the construction of a grade-separated junction at Werrington, and the remodelling of the approach to King’s Cross.

The key dates include a threemonth part closure of King’s Cross from March 1-June 4 2021, when a reduced peak-time service and amended timetable will operate.

A full closure of the London terminus is also planned at Christmas and over a number of weekends, including January 30-31, February 26-28, April 23-25 and June 5-6.

Further north, there will be nine days of reduced services between Peterborough, Grantham and Stamford from January 16-24, plus a further three-day full closure in mid-2021 in order to complete the new infrastructure at Werrington. A full list of closures will be published in the next issue of RAIL.

Ed Akers, principal programme sponsor at NR, said: “We want to deliver this vital job with as little disruption as possible, but we know it’s going to have an impact on people going about their daily lives. I’m sorry about that, but I promise it will be worth it in the long run.”