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East coast train services cancelled across weekend

BBC Leeds City Station: a glass fronted building with a large gold and white sign.BBC
There are no direct services from Leeds to London Kings Cross on Saturday or Sunday

Rail services between Yorkshire and London are being disrupted throughout the weekend due to signalling upgrades on the East Coast Main Line.

The disruption affects Grand Central, Hull Trains, LNER and Lumo services and is a result of the East Coast Digital Programme, a scheme that will introduce in-cab digital signalling between London Kings Cross and Grantham.

No LNER services will run to and from King's Cross. Some services will run to and from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, with replacement bus services taking passengers to and from St Pancras.

A statement from Network Rail said the work would create the UK’s “first intercity mainline to be upgraded to digital signalling”.

It said: “As a result, the amount of signalling-related engineering work will reduce in the future by around almost half.”

It said the signal upgrade would also reduce carbon emissions.

“Digital signalling contributes to a greener railway. These upgrades will deliver a further 55,000-tonne reduction in carbon emissions over 60 years,” it said.

Network Rail said it expected the first trains to operate on the East Coast Main Line using this digital signalling technology by the end of 2025, with all improvements to be completed by 2030.

Which services are affected?

  • No LNER services will run to and from King's Cross. Some services will run to and from St Neots with replacement bus services taking passengers to and from St Pancras.
  • Grand Central - which operates services from Bradford Interchange - will not run any services on Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December.
  • No Hull Trains services will run to and from London Kings Cross, instead diverting to London St Pancras International.
  • No Lumo services will run to and from King's Cross. All services are cancelled, except three that will take passengers to Peterborough where they will be able to take a replacement bus service to St Pancras.

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