{"id":217160,"date":"2025-05-14T21:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=62410"},"modified":"2025-05-14T21:47:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:47:16","slug":"digital-disruption-before-signalling-serenity-on-east-coast-main-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=217160","title":{"rendered":"Digital disruption before signalling serenity on East Coast Main Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The massive resignalling project on Britain\u2019s prestige line takes another step forward this weekend. It may feel like a step back in the short term. Multiple agencies and operators warn that the East Coast Main Line will close this weekend. Digital signalling upgrades affecting journeys between London and Peterborough\/Royston will be the pain before the gain.<\/strong><br \/>\n<span id=\"more-62410\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>No trains out of London King\u2019s Cross. That\u2019s the big takeaway from this coming weekend. From LNER and Limo, to Thameslink and Great Northern, passengers have been reminded that no trains will travel to and from London and Peterborough\/Royston this weekend (17-18 May) as work to transform the East Coast Main Line continues. Network \u201cPassengers First\u201d Rail will carry out significant upgrades as part of \u00a31.4 billion (\u20ac1.66bn) East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), including removing familiar lineside signals. Freight operators may feel a little left out, but they\u2019ll not be using the line either, unless supporting the project.<\/p>\n<h2>Busy booking buses<\/h2>\n<p>Network Rail has released another slick animated video, extolling the virtues of digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line. \u201cNetwork Rail and the passenger operators have collaborated to produce the video,\u201d says a statement from the infrastructure agency. \u201c[The video] outlines the different stages involved with ECDP, and how it will ultimately deliver more reliable, less disrupted, and greener services for passengers on the East Coast Main Line.\u201d Despite the UK Government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/uk\/2024\/01\/02\/uk-government-rail-freight-plan-questioned-over-limited-ambition\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">stated ambition to grow rail freight significantly<\/a>, the sector is ignored in this latest publicity effort.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-container\" style=\"height:0;overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative;width:100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-embed\" style=\"bottom:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;right:0;top:0;width:100%;\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/embed\/Tq-2P1FQpdo?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;mute=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"accelerrometer; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Network Rail may be forgiven for the oversight. With no trains this weekend between London and Peterborough\/Royston, or between Moorgate and Stevenage (via Hertford North), they have their hands full. After all, booking all those rail replacement buses doesn\u2019t happen by itself.<\/p>\n<h2>Associated works this weekend<\/h2>\n<p>On the ground, however, there will be plenty of effort, which will ultimately benefit all rail users. Network Rail engineers will be testing digital signalling between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin. This exercise is ahead of this section going live in early 2026. They\u2019ll also carry out preparatory digital signalling work between Biggleswade and Peterborough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe signal removal work between Moorgate and Finsbury Park marks a significant milestone, as this section becomes Britain\u2019s first fully \u2018no signals\u2019 commuter railway, with trains operating solely with in-cab digital signalling, and not the traditional, trackside traffic-light signals,\u201d says Network Rail. Passenger services operated by Great Northern already use digital signalling on this stretch, so removing the physical signals completes the transition to a fully digital railway route.<\/p>\n<h2>Cable theft is not yet a thing of the past<\/h2>\n<p>It could be a point of contention that the freight sector has been overlooked in this latest communiqu\u00e9 from Network Rail. Several freight operators have their headquarters on the East Coast Main Line, not least GBRf, Freightliner and DB Cargo UK. The latter has recently opened a training facility at Doncaster, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/technology\/2024\/12\/03\/etcs-training-centre-opens-at-db-cargo-uk\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">specifically supports digital in-cab signalling training<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe testing work is another step towards the introduction of digital, in-cab signalling on the East Coast Main Line,\u201d said Ricky Barsby, Network Rail&#8217;s head of access integration for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.networkrail.co.uk\/running-the-railway\/our-routes\/east-coast\/east-coast-digital-programme\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">East Coast Digital Programme<\/a>. \u201cThe work will also see the removal of traditional signals on a stretch of commuter railway in London, pointing the way to the next generation railway.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62413\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Doncaster-montage.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Doncaster-montage.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Doncaster-montage-480x307.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Doncaster-montage-768x491.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Less planned East Coast disruption. Cable theft halted all trains between Sheffield and Doncaster on the morning of Wednesday, 14 May. Image: \u00a9 National Rail Enquiries\/GeographUK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This weekend will also see track switching equipment renewed and refurbished near Hornsey and Huntingdon, and drainage work completed near Fletton. Will digital signalling make a difference? Well, freight and passenger operators between Sheffield and Doncaster might think it can\u2019t come too soon. All trains between those two cities were at a standstill this morning. The cause? A theft of signalling cables.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The massive resignalling project on Britain\u2019s prestige line takes another step forward this weekend. It may feel like a step back in the short term.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":62413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3674,1757,343,759,2663,47,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-217160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-coast-digital-programme","category-east-coast-main-line","category-infrastructure","category-london","category-peterborough","category-rail-news","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=217160"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217860,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217160\/revisions\/217860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=217160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=217160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=217160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}