Major disruption through Stevenage expected until 16:00 

Route(s) affected

All Grand Central routes to / from London Kings Cross

Great Northern between Stevenage and Moorgate, between Kings Lynn / Ely / Peterborough / Cambridge / Letchworth Garden City and London Kings Cross

All Hull Trains routes to / from London Kings Cross

All LNER routes to / from London Kings Cross

All Lumo routes to / from London Kings Cross

Thameslink between Peterborough and Three Bridges / Horsham, between Cambridge and Brighton

Description

A points failure in the Stevenage area means some lines towards London are blocked. Trains running through this station may be cancelled, revised or delayed by up to 60 minutes.

Major disruption is expected until 16:00.

Customer advice

Network Rail are working to deal with this as quickly as possible, and response teams are on site.

LNER

Only 1 train per hour to run south of Peterborough.

Rail replacement buses have been requested.

Due to the severity of todays disruption, LNER are advising customers to check before you travel.

Tickets for travel today (Monday 14 July) can be used for travel on tomorrow (Tuesday 15 July).

You can use your ticket, at no extra cost the following service to complete your journey:

• Avanti West Coast between Edinburgh / Glasgow Central / Manchester and London Euston

• East Midlands Railway between Sheffield / Leicester and London St Pancras International

• CrossCountry Leeds /Doncaster and Sheffield, and between Edinburgh / Newcastle and York, and also between Cambridge and Peterborough

• Greater Anglia between Peterborough and London Liverpool Street

• Great Northern and Thameslink services between Peterborough and London Kings Cross

You can also use Northern or TransPennine Express services via any reasonable route.

Please be aware that other operators’ services are also likely to be busy.

Please see the alternative route map for more details.

Great Northern and Thameslink

A points failure has been reported in the Stevenage area, leading to major delays to trains heading through this station towards London Kings Cross or London St Pancras International.

This is severely disrupting Thameslink and Great Northern services, as well as long-distance trains in the area.

We expect you will need to leave at least 60 minutes of extra time, based on current delays. This will vary depending on exactly which train you're travelling on.

This will vary depending on exactly which journey you are making.

Although this incident is north of London, there will also be disruption south of London due to the effects on Thameslink services. Please see below for each route affected.

Routes affected and service changes:

Each route is affected in both directions, northbound and southbound.

We also expect some other short notice changes and cancellations, as staff need to reduce congestion, and a number of trains and crews are no longer in the right places.

Great Northern stopping services between Cambridge / Royston / Letchworth Garden City and London Kings Cross

Severe delays and some cancellations are expected on this route. There will also be some cancellations, and where trains do operate, they may only run between Cambridge and Letchworth Garden City (not continuing south to London).

The disruption on this route means there will be a very limited service at Foxton, Shepreth and Meldreth, and also at Knebworth and Welwyn North.

Where possible, alternative trains will stop at these stations.

Staff have requested replacement buses to stand by at Royston and Cambridge so that they can cover gaps in the train service between these stations. A small number of buses have been confirmed with the suppliers. The buses will be under the direction of local staff.

Great Northern services between Kings Lynn / Ely and London Kings Cross

Some trains on this route will now only run between Kings Lynn or Ely and Cambridge (in both directions). This means you will need to change at Cambridge for trains to & from London.

There will also be severe delays to those trains which do run through the Stevenage area, and some cancellations.

Thameslink services between Peterborough and Horsham (via Redhill)

These trains are being severely delayed, and may not complete their full journeys, or may not stop at all the usual stations en route.

Thameslink services between Cambridge and Brighton

These trains are being severely delayed, and may not complete their full journeys, or may not stop at all the usual stations en route.

Ticket acceptance on alternative routes:

You may use Thameslink and Great Northern routes interchangeably at no extra cost.

You may also use the following:

Peterborough-London:

- LNER services between Peterborough, Stevenage and London Kings Cross

- CrossCountry, Greater Anglia and East Midlands Railway services between Peterborough and Ely

Ely-Cambridge-London:

- Greater Anglia services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street

- London Underground services to transfer across London

- Arriva buses on routes:

- 55 - between Stevenage and Letchworth

- 97 - between Hitchin and Letchworth

- 98 - between Hitchin and Baldock

- 301 - via Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Knebworth and Stevenage

Local services via Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and Potters Bar:

- London Buses between Potters Bar and Central London, on any reasonable route

- Uno buses on routes:

- 601 - for Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield

- 635 - between Hatfield and Hitchin

- 653 - between Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City

Parallel routes to & from London:

Your ticket will be accepted on Thameslink services between Bedford, Luton, St Albans City and London. There will not be any replacement bus services between the two routes. You will need to use local buses or make your own way between the routes. We are currently arranging local bus ticket acceptance.

Local buses will accept tickets between the routes as follows:

- Arriva buses on route 301 between St Albans and Stevenage via Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City and Knebworth

- Uno buses on routes:

- 601 - between Welwyn Garden City and Radlett (for Hatfield and St Albans City)

- 602 - between Hatfield, St Albans and Radlett

- 653 - between St Albans, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City

South of London:

- Southern services between London and Horsham or the South Coast (including trains via Haywards Heath)

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

- Metrobus on routes 23 and 200 for journeys between Gatwick Airport, Crawley and Horsham

Planning your journey:

You can check train departures from your station here:

- Thameslink live departure boards

- Great Northern live departure boards

You can view live maps of our network here:

- Thameslink live route map

- Great Northern live route map

You can see our alternative route guides here:

- Thameslink alternative route guide

- Great Northern alternative route guide

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

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A points failure is leading to severe congestion at Stevenage. This is due to the fact this is an extremely busy route, and would normally need all lines open as usual, in order to run the full timetable. Instead, trains have had to be stopped on approach to the area, and then advised to run at slower speeds. This takes extra time.

Network Rail are working to deal with this as quickly as possible, and response teams are on site and carrying out temporary repairs to try to allow trains to run more smoothly.

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.