Over nine weekends between Saturday 22 February to early June, engineers will be carrying out essential infrastructure work south of Bedford to upgrade the overhead lines that power trains between Bedford and London.
It means that Thameslink and East Midlands Railway journeys between London St Pancras International and Bedford will be significantly altered and are likely to involve a bus.
This work is crucial for the introduction of East Midlands Railway’s (EMR) new greener fleet of bi-mode trains.
These improvements will also mean smoother and more reliable journeys for passengers travelling between South Yorkshire, the East Midlands and London.
In addition, teams will be removing a temporary bridge at Agar Grove in Camden. This follows the successful replacement of the bridge deck over Christmas 2024, bringing the project a step closer to completion.
Early development and enabling work will be carried out on Luton and Flitwick stations’ access improvements, a bridge replacement at Harlington, and the new Wixams station being developed by Bedford Borough Council**.
Other work will include track upgrades to make services more reliable and drainage improvements to prevent flooding. Further progress will be made on the rail link to SEGRO’s Radlett Strategic Freight Interchange, Hertfordshire, as well as dozens of maintenance jobs along the section of route which is closed.
Mark Budden, route director for East Midlands, said:
“These vital upgrades between Bedford and London along the Midland Main Line are a crucial step in delivering a more reliable and efficient railway for many years to come."
Jenny Saunders, customer service director for Thameslink, said: “These upgrades will bring about big change on the Midland Main Line from London to Bedford – but for this to happen, passengers will experience some disruption on weekends while engineers are hard at work.
Photo credit: iStock
