Lines reopened: disruption between Bedford and Luton expected until the end of the day 

Route(s) affected

East Midlands Railway between Sheffield / Nottingham / Corby and London St Pancras International

Thameslink between Bedford and Three Bridges / East Grinstead / Haywards Heath / Brighton

Description

Following the emergency services dealing with an incident between Bedford and Luton, all lines have reopened. As service recovers, trains between these stations may still be cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

A visual disruption map video is available.

East Midlands Railway customer advice:

Lines have reopened, however, due to the severity of the disruption it may be some time until East Midlands Railway are able to run a full service again. There may be amendments and late notice cancellations whilst they recover their service.

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 on the LNER website. Visit this page 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 this page for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Euston.

Nottingham

You may travel to Grantham with East Midlands Railway 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 on the LNER website. Visit this page 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 this page for lots of useful information about what to expect when travelling via London Euston.

Travel through London

To help you to travel between stations in London you may use your tickets on the London Underground at no extra charge.

You may also travel on Thameslink services between London St Pancras International and Luton at no extra cost.

Corby / Kettering

Buses will shuttle between Corby and Kettering to keep you on the move.

Additional information:

East Midlands Railway have relaxed all of their usual ticket restrictions at this time on the routes affected by today's disruption. You may travel earlier or later at no extra cost, and use tickets dated for today (23 March) on services tomorrow (24 March) at no extra cost.

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.

Thameslink customer advice:

All lines have reopened, but only a very limited Thameslink service will run to and from Bedford at present. Staff are working to restore the full service, but this will take some time.

Services that run between Bedford and Three Bridges / Brighton have largely been reintroduced, but may be subject to delays and alterations, as well as some residual cancellations.

You will be able to travel using your normal train, but you should allow an additional 20 minutes to complete your journey. You may need to travel using a different train to normal, or change trains at an intermediate station.

Please check journey planners before making your journey, and when travelling, listen to announcements and check station screens.

Alternative journey options:

There are very limited alternative journey options in the immediate area.

Tickets will be accepted interchangeably between East Midlands Railway (where available) and Thameslink between Bedford, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway and London St Pancras International.

If you prefer, your Thameslink ticket will be accepted at no extra cost on:

• London Northwestern Railway services between:

  • Milton Keynes Central, Bletchley, Watford Junction and London Euston

  • Bletchley and Bedford (limited local service)

  • St Albans Abbey (a 25 minute distance from St Albans City) and Watford Junction

• Thameslink or Great Northern services between Peterborough, St Neots, Hitchin and Central London (if you are using this route, there will be no connecting bus services to and from the Bedford route)

• London Underground services across London on any reasonable route

• Southern services between London Bridge or London Victoria and East Croydon, and also as far as Redhill, Gatwick Airport and the South Coast (please note: stations are served by various different routes)

• Gatwick Express services between London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath and Brighton

Using a different route is likely to take longer.

Other local options:

The following bus services exist in the local area, but unfortunately there is no ticket acceptance arrangements on these, so they will be available at an extra cost:

• Stagecoach routes:

  • 2 between Flitwick and Bedford

  • 81/99 between Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford and Milton Keynes Central

• Grant Palmer routes:

  • 42/44 between Harlington, Flitwick and Bedford

Planning your journey:

You can see a live map of the network and use live departure boards.

You can use an alternative route guide.

You can also use Thameslink's app to find up-to-date information.

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 set-down 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.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.