Major disruption between Bedford and London St Pancras International expected until 20:00 

Route(s) affected

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

Thameslink services between Bedford and Gatwick Airport / Three Bridges / East Grinstead / Brighton

Description

A person has been hit by a train between Bedford and London St Pancras International. All lines were closed to allow the emergency services to carry out their work but some lines have now reopened. Trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.

Major disruption is expected until 20:00.

If you've been affected by what happened on the network today, there is always someone to talk to. You can contact the Samaritans on 116 123 from any phone for a confidential chat.

A visual disruption map video is now available.

East Midlands Railway customer advice:

How does this affect my train?

Trains running through the area in both directions can now start to run again, however only two tracks out of four will be able to be used, this does mean that there maybe a reduction in train services to help with congestion.

The connect services between Corby and London St Pancras International will be suspended until the end of the day, East Midlands Railway will aim to stop the Intercity services additionally at Bedford and Wellingborough more information will be shared once this is confirmed.

At present staff are expecting the line to fully reopen in the next 2 hours. As soon as the line is open again, the priority will be to get trains running to their advertised times again. Train operators expect the advertised timetable to resume on the affected routes by 20:00.

Ticket acceptance:

Your ticket can be used at no extra cost to travel via the following alternative routes:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Northampton

You may use your tickets to travel with LNER from London Euston to Northampton, however at present we have no confirmed onward transport between Northampton and Kettering.

Luton

You may use your ticket to travel to Luton with Thameslink however, please be aware that Thameslink are also affected by the disruption and expect their services to be very busy. Their services can only run as far as Luton. At present there is no forward travel between Luton and Bedford arranged.

All of these alternative route options are available in the opposite direction too.

Thameslink customer advice:

Thameslink are very sorry to advise that a person was earlier hit by a train so services have been severely disrupted.

If you are travelling to or from Bedford it is likely you will need to use an alternative route to complete your journey. This will take at least 20 to 30 minutes longer than usual so please allow extra time.

We strongly advise not to depart on any journey to or from Bedford if you are looking to travel as there is major disruption in the area at this time.

See below adjustments to our service:

• There will be a reduced service between Luton and London

• Services between Luton and Orpington will run between West Hampstead Thameslink and Orpington

• Services between Peterborough from Horsham will call additionally at Earlswood and Salfords

Please check before you travel using online journey planners and live departure boards.

Ticket acceptance:

You can use your existing ticket on the below services at no additional cost:

• Arriva Bus routes 4 / 4A / 23 / 27 / 28 between Leagrave Station and Luton Town

• Great Northern services between London Kings Cross and Hitchin/Cambridge

• London Northwestern Railway services between Bedford and Watford Junction

• London Underground on any reasonable route

• Southern services on any reasonable route

Rail replacement buses:

Thameslink arranged some replacement buses that you may be able to use to reach your destination. These will likely be extremely busy. These buses will run between Luton and Bedford. Please speak to station staff for further assistance.

Planning your journey:

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

You can also view an alternative route guide.

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

You can use the Thameslink app to find up-to-date information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Thameslink are very sorry to advise that a person has been hit by a train on this part of the network.

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.