YORK train passengers should avoid travelling to London this weekend as more rail work is scheduled to start.

Network Rail is reminding passengers that there will be no trains in or out of King’s Cross, as major work takes place as part of the £1.2billion East Coast Upgrade.

Passengers are urged not to travel to and from London on the East Coast Main Line on this Saturday or Sunday, February 29 and March 1 as no trains will be able to call at King’s Cross station.

If passengers absolutely must travel, they should allow significantly more time for their journeys as travel times will be extended and they will need to change trains or use bus replacement services, both of which will be incredibly busy.

Passengers who must travel should plan ahead via National Rail Enquiries or via eastcoastupgrade.co.uk. On Saturday, 29 February and Sunday, 01 March, there will also be no services in or out of London King’s Cross, with the same impact on services as this weekend.

Ed Akers, the Principal Programme Sponsor for Network Rail, said: “This weekend, we are continuing with vital work on the £1.2billion East Coast Upgrade, which is the biggest investment into the line in a generation.

“We are urging passengers to heed the advice issued which is not to travel to/from London on the East Coast Main Line this weekend. We know that this is disruptive and we do apologise for this. Unfortunately, it is necessary to enable us to progress on this work, which will create more services, faster services and thousands of more seats for passengers.”

There are various changes to services throughout January and February and today, Tuesday, 21 January, Network Rail has announced that there will be further changes to come later in 2020 and into 2021.

Whilst still in the planning stages, the rail industry has released the next set of provisional dates which will impact on passenger services. These are:

No services to or from London King’s Cross on Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 June.

A reduced long-distance service planned between Saturday, 5 September and Sunday, 13 September.

Mr Akers added: “We have also announced further dates later in 2020 and early into 2021 when services are likely to be affected. We want passengers to have as much notice as possible, which is why we have released these dates now. Further and more detailed information will be available in the coming months.”

A spokesperson for train operators along the route said: “This weekend, significant work by Network Rail will mean widespread changes to services on the East Coast Main Line into King’s Cross.

“This is a necessary part of the £1.2billion investment into the line and we strongly urge passengers not to travel and to seek alternate travel arrangements. We hope passengers can understand that we are doing all we can to minimise the impact on them which is why we have announced the next set of provisional dates when services will be disrupted. As an industry we are all committed to providing the best possible information to passengers while we work to significantly improve the service we can offer in future.”