Overhead Wire Break Halts East Coast Main Line to King’s Cross
Specialist engineers are carrying out safety checks and repairs after high-voltage overhead wires failed between Peterborough and Stevenage.
Overview
- Damage to overhead electric wires between Peterborough and Stevenage on Sunday has suspended or severely restricted services on the East Coast Main Line into London King’s Cross.
- Multiple operators including LNER, Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, Lumo and Thameslink have cancelled or delayed services and LNER has told customers not to travel today while allowing affected tickets to be used on the next two days.
- Network Rail specialist teams are assessing and repairing the high-voltage overhead-line equipment and the work cannot start until extensive safety checks are completed.
- Passengers described chaotic conditions at King’s Cross with long queues and limited information from staff, and some services are using rail replacement buses on affected sections.
- National Rail warned the Doncaster area has become a bottleneck and delays may spread through the network, and recovery is constrained by ongoing RAIB and police investigations into two derailments earlier this week.