GTR major engineering works and amended services
Published: 20 December 2024
Final reminder about the various engineering works that will affect Great Northern, Thameslink and, to a lesser extent, Southern services over the festive period between Saturday 21 December 2024 and Sunday 5 January 2025, as well as a general update about how our timetables will be amended over the holidays.
Where and why are the engineering closures taking place?
The routes and services most significantly impacted over the festive period are:
• Thameslink services between London and Bedford from Saturday 21 until Sunday 29 December
• Great Northern and Thameslink services between Royston and Cambridge from Friday 27 December until Sunday 5 January.
• Additionally, there will be no Thameslink services across central London and to Wimbledon/Sutton between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 December.
I have provided more details on the engineering closures, dates and impacts below.
Network Rail is using the opportunity of the holidays, when there are fewer people travelling over the period, and reduced or no services on some days, to carry out routine maintenance and major improvements on a number of our routes. This includes overhead line upgrades and a major bridge replacement on the Midland Main Line, track replacement through the Thameslink Core, and signalling upgrades in the Cambridge area and continuing construction of the new Cambridge South station.
Amended timetables across the festive period
In addition to the engineering work, as is usual, amended timetables will also be in operation throughout the festive period across all our services.
It is worth noting that on Christmas Eve, services on all routes will finish early. Specific last train times are showing in journey planners and will also be displayed on posters at major stations. On Christmas Day, no trains will run on any routes. On Boxing Day, a limited service will run on a small number of Southern routes to and from London Victoria, including services for Gatwick Airport. There will be no Great Northern or Thameslink trains that day.
Advice for customers
We have been running a comprehensive communications campaign across all our channels for several months to provide information on the changes, and to advise customers to plan and check ahead of travelling over the entire festive period.
I have included the posters that are on display at our stations as attachments to this briefing, which you’d be welcome to share on your channels, as appropriate.
The details of how the major engineering works will affect services are available on dedicated festive travel pages on the Great Northern and Thameslink websites.
The details of the engineering work affecting Southern services, as well as all the works affecting Thameslink north and south of London are available via the planned works calendars on the Southern and Thameslink websites.
- Thameslink & Great Northern service overview calendar
- Thameslink & Great Northern engineering works map
- Thameslink & Great Northern engineering Cambs map
- Thameslink engineering MML Core map