No trains Aug Bank Hol, infrastructure projects and other updates

HART - No trains Aug Bank Hol and other major engineering

In this edition:

No trains August Bank Hol Sat / Sun

Major work projects being planned

Timetable changes from Sun 19 May

Other station matters

Meet the Manager sessions

Please note we are busy talking to GN / TL about other issues, including the repeated cancellations of trains due to no driver being available - more on these in our next newsletter.

The work mentioned above is only one element of the work that is currently being planned to refresh and upgrade our rail infrastructure.

You will already have seen some overnight and weekend timetable changes to facilitate local work but 2 key elements are being finalised now that Network Rail has started a new 5 year "control period", with funding allocated to specific improvements.

Moorgate tunnels

Initial work has been going on to evaluate what needs doing to carry out a full cleansing of the tunnels and improve robustness of signalling etc. In addition NR will be installing a more modern signalling system in due course, which should allow trains to safely run more closely together - thus improving service robustness / recovery.

This is likely to involve a series of line closures - planned to avoid the M-F commutes so far as possible. The main impact is looking likely to be in the first half of 2020, but the scheduling needs to dovetail with that for Kings Cross - to ensure passengers can access one or the other at all times.

Kings Cross

Whilst the terminal has had a lot of investment in recent years the tracks and signalling are very much due significant attention to maximise available capacity and improve robustness.

At times the project will result in temporary loss of capacity - this is inevitable, but we are trying to ensure that impacts are communicated clearly and in a timely fashion. Some of the team who planned the Brighton line closures, have switched over to this project, which is reassuring.

There is a dedicated website for the project alongside wider work along the East Coast Main Line: https://eastcoastupgrade.co.uk/the-programme/. At present the info is sketchy but this will be built out as the project progresses.

Timetable changes from Sun 19 May

We detailed the changes in our last newsletter, but one point that neither we nor TL have made, is that the planned switching of the WGC peak semi-fast services to go through the core and on to Sevenoaks, has been delayed following the issues last year.

We believe that neither this nor the proposed extension of our Cambridge services to Maidstone will happen in Dec 2019, but one or the other may take place in May 2020. Discussions on this are ongoing and we will update you once we know more.

Hardcopy timetables have been produced - there was an initial delivery to Hatfield, which were all taken. Hopefully more will appear, but it is worth asking at other stations, if you can't get one locally. All services stopping at Hatfield appear on timetable 15.

Other station matters

Moorgate escalators - there is currently a range of end dates being shown for this work in different info sources, but info from GN / TfL suggests that the current position is:

The first escalator won't now be finished until early August, so existing arrangements will continue until then.

The second escalator will then be done - with an expected completion date of late 2019.

Whilst we will need to use the stairs to reach P9/10 until final completion, there should be a couple of areas of improvement from August - as the passage behind the ticket machines should re-open when the first escalator is complete:

Those who switch to the Circle Line etc should no longer need to go through the gate-lines in the morning.

Our gate-line should come back into use in the evening - reducing the level of queuing.

Lift on P1/2 at Finsbury Park - this seems to be particularly prone to outages and we want to monitor the situation over the next few weeks - if you spot it has switched from being in use to out-of-action or vice versa, please could you let us know.

Late platform changes - GN / TL are already working with Network Rail signalling management to try to reduce the incidence of late notice platform changes at Finsbury Park - particularly southbound where there are regular problems in the morning peak.

At Moorgate we sometimes get the situation where each platform is full of passengers awaiting particular destinations and then NR flip these - not only inconvenient, but also posing safety concerns due to the restricted space available. GN are raising this with NR to explore the reasons for the platform changes and try to reduce the frequency with which this occurs.

Meet the Manager Sessions

The next sessions are:

King's Cross Wednesday 22 May: 16:30 - 18:30

St Pancras Thursday 18 Jul: 07:30 - 09:30

There are usually a good range of senior managers at these events and we would encourage you to go along and ask questions / raise issues.

GN are having a look at how they could host a future session at Moorgate - space is an issue, but they are trying to find a way around this.