Lines reopened: major disruption between Hitchin and Cambridge expected until 15:00 

Route(s) affected

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

Thameslink between London Kings Cross and Cambridge

Description

Lines have now reopened following a fault with the signalling system between Royston and Cambridge. However, whilst service recovers, trains running between these stations will be delayed by up to 60 minutes, cancelled or revised.

Major disruption is expected until 15:00.

A visual disruption map video is available.

Customer advice:

A limited Thameslink and Great Northern service will now run in both directions between Royston and Cambridge

The route has reopened, following a complete failure of the signalling system at Foxton earlier today.

However, a large number of trains and crews are no longer in the correct places, and we expect it will take until mid-afternoon to get back to a normal timetable.

Please check journey planning tools before you go to the station, and be aware that alternative journey options are extremely limited.

Your journey is still likely to take at least 60 minutes longer than usual.

Train service changes:

Express services between London Kings Cross and Cambridge are likely to be cancelled.

Stopping services between London Kings Cross and Cambridge may not run across the whole of their normal route, and others may not stop at all the usual stations.

Some services on the Kings Lynn route will still be amended, and will run as a limited shuttle service between Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn.

Alternative journey options:

Your ticket will be accepted at no extra cost on:

• Greater Anglia between:

  • London Liverpool Street and Cambridge

  • Cambridge and Ely

  • Ely and Peterborough

• CrossCountry between Cambridge and Ely

• East Midlands Railway between Peterborough and Ely

• Thameslink and Great Northern services on any reasonable alternative route, including trains between Peterborough and London

• LNER services between Peterborough and London Kings Cross

• London Underground services to transfer across London on any reasonable route

  
  

Replacement buses:

Replacement buses have been requested from suppliers, but still waiting for confirmation. If buses are available, we'll update this message with the details.

Bus journeys will take longer than the usual train service, and if possible, we'll provide a time estimate here.

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 the network here:

- Thameslink live route map

- Great Northern live route map

You can see 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 here.

You can also use the Great Northern and Thameslink apps to find up-to-date information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Local staff and colleagues at Network Rail have worked to deal with a power surge which caused a total failure of signalling equipment at Foxton Level Crossing, and its surroundings.

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.