A range of rail improvement projects will be carried out during a series of weekend engineering work affecting London journeys on the Midland Main Line.
Passengers are advised to plan ahead as journeys will take longer than usual because of the planned upgrades between Kettering and Leicester.
The improvements – taking place on six consecutive weekends from Saturday 21 June – will include upgrading track, signal and communications equipment and drainage systems, making the line more resilient and benefiting train performance.
There will also be progress made on the new phase of Midland Main Line electrification, between Wigston in Leicestershire and East Midlands Parkway, which will allow East Midlands Railway (EMR) to introduce its new greener fleet of bi-mode trains.
One aspect of this will be Network Rail physically lowering sections of track to accommodate overhead line equipment without the need to demolish and rebuild bridges. The benefits of this method include it being less disruption, for example because road closures are not required, and the costs being a fraction of a new bridge.
EMR will operate an amended timetable between London St Pancras and Nottingham/Sheffield. Trains will not call at Market Harborough.
There will be a connecting rail replacement bus service operating between Kettering and Leicester calling at Market Harborough.
The weekends affected by this work are:
- Saturday 21 June to Monday 23 June
- Saturday 28 June and Sunday 29 June
- Saturday 5 July and Sunday 6 July
- Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 July
- Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July
- Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July
To assist passengers travelling via Grantham, EMR will have the following additional services on Sundays throughout the engineering work:
- 08.15 Nottingham to Grantham, arriving at 08.48
- 13.25 Nottingham to Peterborough, calling at Grantham at 13.58, arriving at Peterborough at 14:26 (except Sunday 6 July)
Gavin Crook, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, said: “We know the disruption caused by these important upgrades will frustrate some passengers but the long-term benefits will be significant. Improvements will make the line more resilient, improving train performance, while lowering the track, where possible, will minimise disruption and costs.
“We’re sorry that journeys will take longer than usual while the work is taking place, but these improvements will contribute to a more efficient railway with greener, smoother journeys in the future.”
Philippa Cresswell, customer experience director for East Midlands Railway, said: “We recommend customers planning to travel to or from London over six weekends between Saturday 21 June and Sunday 27 July to check their journey in advance of travelling.
“On the affected weekends, services on our Intercity route, will be diverted between Leicester and Kettering. This will extend journey times by approximately 45 minutes. Customers travelling from Market Harborough will need to use a rail replacement bus to complete part of their journey as no trains will be able to call at Market Harborough.
“Our Connect route will run between Wellingborough and London St Pancras only, with Intercity trains calling additionally at Corby, Kettering, and Wellingborough.
“We would like to thank our customers for their patience whilst Network Rail upgrade the overhead power lines to enable our bi-mode trains to run on our Intercity route in the future. This work will greatly benefit our customers with more reliable journeys to and from London.”
Image credit: Network Rail
