Travel advice to/from London St Pancras - 19/06/26 to 28/06/26

[lrbvoyager]

Are any EMR services running from St Pancras currently?

 

[Trainguy34]

Are any EMR services running from St Pancras currently?

Nope, and Thameslink only running as far north as St Alban's. If you're trying to get somewhere, create a thread and we should be able to help.

 

[riceuten]

Are any EMR services running from St Pancras currently?

No, suspended until further notice

 

[PeterC1]

Are any EMR services running from St Pancras currently?

No all EMR services are suspended out of London

 

[Dave61]

Are any EMR services running from St Pancras currently?

I can't see any EMR IC trains running anywhere at the moment

 

[thenorthern]

I know this isn't the most pressing issue at the moment but where are tomorrow's engineering works on the MML due to take place?

 

[800001]

I know this isn't the most pressing issue at the moment but where are tomorrow's engineering works on the MML due to take place?

Between St Pancras and Bedford.

 

[thenorthern]

Between St Pancras and Bedford.

Fair enough, I was just curious if the engineering works is likely to be postponed due to the incident.

 

[800001]

Fair enough, I was just curious if the engineering works is likely to be postponed due to the incident.

If it is an area not impacted by the collision and subsequent investigation work, then I would say the work will continue.

 

[brad465]

Reading National Rail Enquiries on the disruption information, I didn't realise they could be informal in their text. They include phrases/sentences like: "Don’t worry about your ticket, other train operators know about the disruption to your journey and your ticket can be used at no extra cost on their trains.", or "for lots of useful information":

Incident: Luton | National Rail

Major disruption between London St Pancras International and Bedford expected until at least Friday 26 June: only travel if it is essential. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

How do I get where I need to be?​

If you were due to travel today, we advise that you instead travel tomorrow. Your ticket can be used at no extra cost to travel via the following alternative routes. These alternative routes can be used until the end of the day on Saturday 20 June:

Sheffield

You may travel to Doncaster with CrossCountry, TransPennine Express or Northern where you should change for a train to London Kings Cross. It is likely to take between 2 and 2.5 hours to complete this journey. LNER, who run the trains between Doncaster and London Kings Cross recommend booking a seat reservation. This can be done up to 5 minutes before the train departs at the LNER website. Visit the East Midlands Railway Website for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Kings Cross.

Derby / Chesterfield

You may travel to Birmingham New Street with CrossCountry where you should change for a train to London Euston with London Northwestern Railway or Avanti West Coast. It is likely to take between 2.5 and 3 hours to complete this journey. Visit the East Midlands Railway website for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Euston.

Nottingham

You may travel to Grantham with EMR where you should change for a train to London Kings Cross. It is likely to take between 2 and 2.5 hours to complete this journey. LNER, who run the trains between Grantham and London Kings Cross recommend booking a seat reservation. This can be done up to 5 minutes before the train departs at the LNER website. Visit the East Midlands Railway website for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Kings Cross.

Leicester

You may travel to Nuneaton with CrossCountry where you should change for a train to London Euston with Avanti West Coast or London Northwestern Railway. It is likely to take 2 hours to complete this journey. Visit the East Midlands Railway Website for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Euston.

Corby

Train services are in operation between Kettering and Corby.

All of these alternative route options are available in the opposite direction too. Don’t worry about your ticket, other train operators know about the disruption to your journey and your ticket can be used at no extra cost on their trains.

East Midlands Railway promise that if you need to start your outward journey from a different operator's station due to this disruption, then you will also be able to travel back to that station when you return, regardless of if the disruption has ended or your ticket type. Rail industry colleagues will welcome you on board with your original ticket.

Rail Replacement Buses:

A rail replacement bus service will run between Bedford, Wellingborough and Kettering

A rail replacement bus service will run between Luton and Bedford.

Rail replacement bus services are also in operation between Northampton and Kettering. You may travel on London Northwestern Railway services between London Euston and Northampton.

As it is late in the day the number of connecting trains are limited. If you have already started our journey we will make every effort to get you to your destination by rail. If not, we will make alternative arrangements for you. Please speak to a member of the East Midlands Railway team if you are concerned about your connecting journey.

Check before you travel:​

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use our Rail Replacement Services page.

You can find the pick-up and drop-off location of rail replacement services by checking station signage or by searching for your station on our Find a Station page.

Please be advised that replacement vehicles may be busier than usual, and you should allow extra time for your journey.

 

[John Webb]

A fair bit of the planned engineering work is going on around St Albans - we were chatting with the workman on Weds while at St Albans South Box as they have their offices in the adjacent car park.

 

[RyanOPlasty]

I am travelling northbound from Leicester early tomorrow. All the trains seem to originate from Bedford; are these likely to be cancelled?

 

[810013]

I am travelling northbound from Leicester early tomorrow. All the trains seem to originate from Bedford; are these likely to be cancelled?

There appears to be a once hourly service between Bedford/Sheffield & Bedford/Nottingham

 

[CalderRail]

In terms of passengers this weekend, there were already planned Engineering works, so at least alternative routes and RRBs were already in place. However, will those Engineering works be cancelled (I assume yes, because RAIB won't want anything changing while under investigation) and what will the knock-on impact of that be?

 

[westcoaster]

any postings about the week to come, ticket acceptance etc
national rail is quite scaant on infomation going forward.

 

[800001]

any postings about the week to come, ticket acceptance etc
national rail is quite scaant on infomation going forward.

I would imagine that information will come to late very late tonight, the teams at TL and EMR will have an awful lot of work to do to basically write a timetable and rosters in less than 2 days.

I can imagine it maybe similar to the weekend engineering timetable this weekend.

Edit - just seen on EMR twitter that they expect to have journeys loaded to journey planners later today

there will be a reduced timetable for tomorrow, which will be uploaded to journey planners later today. We are urging customers to only travel if absolutely necessary

East Midlands Railway (EMR) (@EastMidRailway) on X

@HBells123 Hi Helen, there will be a reduced timetable for tomorrow, which will be uploaded to journey planners later today. We are urging customers to only travel if absolutely necessary. ^CL

x.com

 

[westcoaster]

Just seen its updated since i last looked.

 

[Failed Unit]

Thameslink when you think about it should have a normal service on St Alban’s to Sutton (as unless crew / stock are in Bedford) is out of the area.

Not sure how many services they can turn at Luton, put again I would expect trains to be going that far. With the normal Thameslink Bedford - Three bridges Withdrawn entirely.

 

[Vexed]

Thameslink when you think about it should have a normal service on St Alban’s to Sutton (as unless crew / stock are in Bedford) is out of the area.

While some units come from Cricklewood some do come from Bedford. However, the Sutton loop late evening services that terminate at Bedford and then go to the depots/sidings there didn't run on Friday night, so the stock that usually would come from Bedford must have been stored elsewhere and would still be available. Unless stuff was left in platforms and needs to head to a proper depot before entering passenger service again.

I assume Bedford crew will be spending a while in taxis until the line reopens!

 

[800001]

BBC have an updated story/report just been published including travel information for EMR customers.

EMR said pre-planned engineering work meant all lines between Bedford and London St Pancras were already closed on Saturday and Sunday.

It added that from Monday to Thursday, one train per hour would run between Sheffield and Bedford, Nottingham and Bedford, and Kettering and Corby, but there would be no services south of Bedford.

Network Rail's East Midlands route director, Mark Budden, said: "We know passengers will want to understand when services can resume.

"We will provide updates as soon as we have a clearer understanding of the recovery work required and when the railway can safely reopen."

Bedford train crash disruption to last until Thursday

Police say 28 people remain in hospital after two trains collided on Friday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Haywain]

There's a full update on the Thameslink website with plans for the coming week (copied below, without the EMR bit). As the line is closed again next weekend, this means no trains between Luton and Bedford until Monday 29th at the earliest.

From Monday 22 June until at least Friday 26 June, Thameslink services will not run between Luton and Bedford.

If your journey is on the Midland Main Line between Luton and Bedford, please only travel if your journey is essential. If you do need to travel, please check before you set off and allow at least 60 minutes additional time. Disruption is expected throughout this period, and services that are able to run as far as Luton (from London) will be reduced.

The following stations will have no Thameslink service

• Bedford
• Flitwick
• Harlington
• Leagrave

If you are travelling to or from any of these stations, you will need to use an alternative route or the limited rail replacement bus service where available.

EMR customers can travel with Thameslink and Great Northern services during this time.

Journey planners are showing the amended service for Monday 22 June. We'll update journey planners for Tuesday 23 June and for the rest of the week as soon as possible. What does this mean for my journey?

A reduced Thameslink service will run, with the following changes:

Three Bridges to Bedford services will not run. Please use alternative Thameslink services where available, or allow extra time to change trains. You can also use Southern services towards London Victoria.

East Grinstead to Bedford peak-time services will not run. Please use Southern services to and from London Victoria instead. You can change at East Croydon for a limited Thameslink service to Luton.

Brighton to Bedford services will run to and from Luton only. If you are travelling beyond Luton, you will need to use the limited rail replacement bus service. Rainham to Luton services will run between Rainham and Dartford only. Please use alternative Southeastern services from Dartford to London. You can also use the Elizabeth line if you're travelling to or from Abbey Wood.



All other Thameslink services are planned to run normally. Earlswood and Salfords will be served by different Thameslink services than usual.

Rail replacement buses between Luton and Bedford

A very limited rail replacement bus service will run between Luton and Bedford.

• A stopping bus service between Bedford and Luton, calling at Flitwick, Harlington and Leagrave
• A semi-fast bus service between Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway, calling at Luton only.

Space on board these buses will be extremely limited. At busier times, you may not be able to board the first bus that arrives. A limited bus service, operated by EMR will operate between Kettering and Luton Airport Parkway, calling at Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton. Thameslink and EMR customers may use the rail replacement bus service that best supports their journey.

 

[westcoaster]

While some units come from Cricklewood some do come from Bedford. However, the Sutton loop late evening services that terminate at Bedford and then go to the depots/sidings there didn't run on Friday night, so the stock that usually would come from Bedford must have been stored elsewhere and would still be available. Unless stuff was left in platforms and needs to head to a proper depot before entering passenger service again.

I assume Bedford crew will be spending a while in taxis until the line reopens!

If Bedford is at capacity it would be 14 RLU's and 6 FLU's plus another 4 FLU's at Cauldwell depot.

plus with next weekends full closure, will reopen hopefully a week monday.

If im reading the ticket acceptence right, i have an advance single for tuesday evening St Pancras to Wellingborough, will i be able to use it from Euston to Milton keynes/Northampton at any time and get a lift home from there.

 

[Haywain]

There's a full update on the Thameslink website with plans for the coming week (copied below, without the EMR bit). As the line is closed again next weekend, this means no trains between Luton and Bedford until Monday 29th at the earliest.

Now further clarified in this post that the off peak service from Luton will be just two trains an hour, down from the normal eight, and six from St Albans. North from Bedford EMR will be running one per hour each to Sheffield and Nottingham.

 

[Trainguy34]

What a surprise, Rainham gets left off the map fully again, just hand it back to SE at this point

 

[flitwickbeds]

BBC News reporting a Network Rail press release saying there will be no EMR service south of Bedford, and no Thameslink service north of Luton, for the whole of the next week.

Leagrave users can use local buses to Luton station; Bedford users could use the (1tph) service to connect to the ECML at Bletchley.

Flitwick and especially Harlington users have no realistic alternative other than rail replacement buses, which we have already been warned will be in short supply. There doesn't appear to be any rail replacement buses listed in RTT for tomorrow yet, but the press release says it will take a few hours to sort out the timetable.

Currently making plans to travel from Luton Arlesey or Milton Keynes (via car) which ruins our already very tight nursery and school pickup and dropoff schedule!

 

[Benjwri]

What a surprise, Rainham gets left off the map fully again, just hand it back to SE at this point

Fully? They're running to Dartford? Where do you expect them to turn around further up when every other terminal is effectively full, especially in the rush hour?

 

[800001]

What a surprise, Rainham gets left off the map fully again, just hand it back to SE at this point

The team have just to re-write a timetable and crew it with paths etc in what less than 48 hours?
Is it one change of train required to get to Rainham?

 

[SteveHFC]

Thameslink is much as I suspected it will be - just the 2 Brighton trains per hour from Luton. Full credit to all those at EMR and Thameslink for getting schedules sorted so quickly. Impressive work.

 

[JonathanH]

The Redhill corridor only has the Peterborough service this week towards London Bridge, which takes Purley off the Thameslink network. Stops at Earlswood and Salfords in Peterborough trains not yet in the schedules.

 

[A S Leib]

They've had to do a lot at short notice, with this question being out of curiosity and not criticism, anything they could have done would have been criticised, and I'm sure they'd want to be particularly cautious of safety right now; why is Corby to Kettering hourly rather than 2 tph?