East Coast Upgrade - 2020-21

Once complete, the East Coast Upgrade will create capacity for up to 10,000 extra seats a day on long-distance services, enable faster journeys and increase reliability for passengers.

The next major upcoming work consists of two weekends at the start of 2020 when no trains will be running to or from King’s Cross station:

• Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January 2020
• Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March 2020.

On these weekends’ passengers are advised not to travel to or from London on the East Coast Mainline, although services north of Peterborough will be largely unaffected.

Going forward, there will be further major engineering works in 2020 and 2021 which are essential to deliver the benefits of the upgrade. The provisional dates for these works are:

• No services to or from King’s Cross on the weekend of Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June 2020, in addition to further weekends later in the year
• A reduced long-distance service planned from 5th to 13th September 2020 to enable engineering work between Grantham and Peterborough, with no services to or from King’s Cross on the weekend of Saturday 5th September and Sunday 6th September 2020.
• Prolonged disruption from 19th December 2020 through to late March 2021 affecting weekdays and weekends, with a mix of reduced services and no services at King’s Cross

Please note that these dates are provisional and are potentially subject to change. However, we are sharing them now to give as much advance notice as possible in order for passengers to plan ahead accordingly, including with decisions on season ticket purchases.

Please visit eastcoastupgrade.co.uk in order to stay up to date on the East Coast Upgrade. If you have any questions or require further information on the issues raised in this briefing paper, please do not hesitate to contact EastCoastUpgrade@fieldconsulting.co.uk .