Major disruption between London and Peterborough / Cambridge expected until 22:30 

Route(s) affected

Grand Central between London Kings Cross and Bradford Interchange / Sunderland

Great Northern between London Kings Cross and Cambridge / Letchworth Garden City / Ely / Kings Lynn

Hull Trains between London Kings Cross and Beverley / Hull

LNER between London Kings Cross and Bradford Forster Square / Lincoln / Leeds / York / Newcastle / Edinburgh / Aberdeen

Lumo between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh

Thameslink between Brighton and Cambridge, and also between Horsham and Peterborough

Description

A safety inspection of the track is taking place at Hitchin, closing some lines at this station. Trains running between London and Peterborough / Cambridge may be delayed by up to 45 minutes, cancelled or revised.

Major disruption is expected until 22:30.

Great Northern and Thameslink customer advice:

If you are travelling now, you may need to change trains to complete your journey and allow extra time to arrive at your destination.

How the service has been affected:

• Trains are delayed by at least 45 minutes in either direction

• Services towards Peterborough / Cambridge will not be stopping at Hitchin. Trains running towards London will continue to stop at Hitchin as booked

If you are travelling to Hitchin in the northbound direction, please remain on the train until either Arlesey or Letchworth Garden City, then change for a train towards London there. These services will continue to call at Hitchin.

If you are travelling from Hitchin towards Peterborough / Cambridge, please travel to Stevenage and change for a northbound train there.

Tickets are being accepted on:

• Alternative Thameslink and Great Northern services between London and Hitchin

• Greater Anglia services between London Liverpool Street, Ely and Peterborough

• CrossCountry services between Cambridge and Peterborough

• London Underground services between London stations

Travelling via an alternative route will take longer than usual. We recommend allowing at least 40 minutes more time to complete your journey.

Planning your journey:

You can check train departures from your station here:

- Great Northern live departure boards

- Thameslink live departure boards

You can view live maps of the network here:

- Great Northern live route map

- Thameslink live route map

You can also see an alternative route guides here:

- Great Northern alternative route guide

- Thameslink alternative route guide

If you're travelling in the London area, you can plan journeys on alternative routes by using the TfL Journey Planner.

The Great Northern and Thameslink apps will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A safety inspection of the track is taking place in the Hitchin area, meaning that trains are unable to run on one of the northbound lines. As this leaves less lines available than usual, services are being delayed by the resulting congestion in the area.

Check before you travel:

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

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.