ECML Disruption - Saturday 27th December

[LNW-GW Joint]

Bad news for intending King's Cross travellers on Saturday 27th.
NRE already has a notice of overrunning engineering works, published well over 12 hours in advance!

Due to overrunning engineering works near London Kings Cross, services to and from this station on Saturday 27 December are expected to be significantly disrupted.
A revised timetable is currently being developed and will be made available as soon as possible. Please check our website regularly for updates.
East Coast advise passengers to defer travel if possible

Presumably this is the work associated with connecting the GN lines into the new Thameslink tunnels.

 

[Max]

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/travel-i...isruption-id=42968AE8AAFB4635AC303F6EDE0B91CD

Advance warning for Saturday 27th December: Due to overrunning engineering works north of London Kings Cross, we are expecting significant disruption to East Coast services. Customers are advised to defer travel where possible. A revised timetable is currently being developed and will be made available as soon as possible. Please check our website regularly for updates.

Given it's nearly 6pm the day before I imagine some people with journeys planned for early tomorrow morning might be feeling a bit nervous!

 

[GB]

I was on the worksite yesterday and for a number of reasons the work was extremely behind schedule.

 

[Saint66]

Sky News are reporting that there will be NO trains tomorrow out of KX due to the overrunning engineering works.

 

[Max]

Sky News are reporting that there will be NO trains tomorrow out of KX due to the overrunning engineering works.

Wow, the Hull Trains specials to St Pancras could be cosy!

 

[Qwerty133]

BBC also reporting no trains out of Kings Cross tomorrow on the news channel, in there 1 minute bulletin at 18:00.

 

[Qwerty133]

No TOC except TLGN tweeted this yet (although NRE have). Sorry but this was clearly expected hours ago, so a middle manager should have ensured Internet access to be informing and helping passengers, staying online until the early hours.

passengers will have to start or finish their journeys at Finsbury Park making at least one change.

 

[wensley]

I was having such a quiet Boxing Day until this news was broken by NR this afternoon. Looks like a late night tonight and a long day tomorrow trying to pull some sort of service together and keep folk on the move.

 

[Max]

As this issue appears on the face of it to be something which could produce a lot of discussion, I suggest keeping this thread going. Perhaps Mods could consider merging the above post with this one.

Done!

 

[Saint66]

I was having such a quiet Boxing Day until this news was broken by NR this afternoon. Looks like a late night tonight and a long day tomorrow trying to pull some sort of service together and keep folk on the move.

Best of luck!

 

[Suraggu]

It's all true.
No trains expected in and out of KGX all day tomorrow. Currently a conference is being held to formulate a timetable.
EC will have less sets available due to sets currently berthed in KGX.

It will be an interesting and stressful day tomorrow and with all trains out of KGX fully booked its going to be messy.

 

[185143]

TPE and XC will be cosy further north as well!

 

[Saint66]

So, will we see East Coast terminating at Peterborough, and possibly Stevenage tomorrow?

 

[Suraggu]

So, will we see East Coast terminating at Peterborough, and possibly Stevenage tomorrow?

Some trains were booked to terminate @ Stevenage and Peterborough anyway as part of the engineering works.

 

[Coolzac]

What are the chances of services coming out of KGX by Sunday? Going all the way up to Edinburgh which I was looking forward to :roll:

 

[Suraggu]

What are the chances of services coming out of KGX by Sunday? Going all the way up to Edinburgh which I was looking forward to :roll:

No one knows yet. Keep your eyes posted on EC updates from their website and twitter.
I've just received the call to come into work earlier...

 

[Coolzac]

No one knows yet. Keep your eyes posted on EC updates from their website and twitter.
I've just received the call to come into work earlier...

Cheers for your help. Fingers crossed!

 

[asylumxl]

Supposed to travel from Edinburgh to London tomorrow. Wow, this is going to be such fun. I booked 3 months in advance, didn't buy cheap AP fares, made reservations and I can bet I'm going to be standing for over 4 ****ing hours. Brilliant.

 

[Max]

East Coast services (or perhaps National Express as it was at the time?) have turned at Finsbury Park before - could it happen tomorrow? Presumably it would be a much more limited service than was planned.

 

[Bald Rick]

Presumably this is the work associated with connecting the GN lines into the new Thameslink tunnels.

There are about 6 major pieces of work south of Ally Pally, of which Thameslink is one. And it isn't the Thameslink work that is the problem.

 

[Suraggu]

Trains were booked to terminate at York, Doncaster, Peterborough, Stevenage, Finsbury Park & KGX.
Timetable still being formulated but yes a reduced service will be in force. Terminating all services at Finsbury Park would not be possible as GTR and open access operators deserve to run trains as well.

Expect similar terminations as the booked timetable stated and then even more.

 

[6Gman]

Good day to own a Hertfordshire coach company ..........

 

[21C101]

There are about 6 major pieces of work south of Ally Pally, of which Thameslink is one. And it isn't the Thameslink work that is the problem.

Assuming the Moorgate lines are not blocked it would make sense to run an intensive limited stop service between Moorgate and Stevenage with IC services turning back at Stevenage and Peterborough and Peterborough/Cambs line GN services terminating at Finsbury Park, calling at stations south of Stevenage.

The report of EC trains stuck at the cross because they are berthed there seems a bit odd. They could be towed out slowly by locos under possession - unless all 4 lines are blocked by a missing bridge or something.

 

[Suraggu]

Assuming the Moorgate lines are not blocked it would make sense to run an intensive limited stop service between Moorgate and Stevenage with IC services turning back at Stevenage and Peterborough and Peterborough/Cambs line GN services terminating at Finsbury Park, calling at stations south of Stevenage.

The report of EC trains stuck at the cross because they are berthed there seems a bit odd. They could be towed out slowly by locos under possession - unless all 4 lines are blocked by a missing bridge or something.

All lines are blocked. No trains can run to or from KGX. EC will be down a few sets tomorrow.

 

[Qwerty133]

Good day to own a Hertfordshire coach company ..........

As long as you have lots of sober drivers with driving hours available and that are willing to work, in the middle of school holidays and after 2 bank holidays.

 

[roritoberry]

MML will be extra full then, I'm travelling from STP to Manchester via Sheffield due to the West Coast closure, is there another alternative route I could do if East Coast passengers divert via MML services too?

 

[Rich McLean]

2 x XC HST Sets now planned to be on hire to East Coast tomorrow

 

[Saint66]

Current from national rail enquiries: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/88857.aspx

Due to overrunning engineering works near London Kings Cross, journeys to and from this station on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December will be significantly disrupted.
Saturday 27 December
Trains will not run between Finsbury Park and London Kings Cross.
Train services that are already scheduled to run to and from Finsbury Park will run as planned.
The trains that were due to run to and from London Kings Cross will only run as far as Peterborough, Stevenage or Finsbury Park. Alternative transport will then be required to get to and from central London, and more details on this will follow shortly.
East Coast are advising passengers to defer travel if possible.

 

[GB]

The report of EC trains stuck at the cross because they are berthed there seems a bit odd. They could be towed out slowly by locos under possession - unless all 4 lines are blocked by a missing bridge or something.

Unfortunately its not quite as simple as that, what with missing rails, staff, equipment and ballast trains strewn all over the place. To ensure a protected path through the possession would just add to the delay in finishing the work.

 

[Qwerty133]

2 x XC HST Sets now planned to be on hire to East Coast tomorrow

Not sure that this is the correct move, XC need as many trains as possible, as they'll have all of their own passengers as well as passengers trying to get to London from both EC and WC destinations (changing at Derby, Sheffield, Birmingham or Reading),
Although I'm not sure exactly how many trains are trapped at Kings Cross, I'd imagine that reworking diagrams, taking into account earlier turn arounds and reducing turn around time could reduce the number of units EC need.