Vital track repair works have been completed along the Anglia route, meaning that rail services between King's Lynn, Cambridge and London King's Cross can return to their normal schedules from today (Wednesday 5th October). These works became a necessity after a period of prolonged dry weather due to the recent heatwave.
Due to the record heights of soaring temperatures over the summer period, the peaty ground beneath the track along the Fen line between Cambridge and King’s Lynn had shrunk severely enough to affect the track above. This created unsafe conditions for travel, meaning repair works were a necessity.
Fortunately, these repairs did not require complete line closures, which could have led to major disruptions for local passengers, instead only requiring speed restrictions to be implemented to allow services to run safely without the risk of further track damages.
Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said:
“We have carried out repairs as quickly as possible to reinstate the usual timetable between Kings Lynn, Cambridge, and London. I want to thank passengers for their patience while we carried out this work.”
The renovation works were conducted by Network Rail engineers, who realigned the tracks whilst removing most of the speed restrictions that had been imposed. Not all these restrictions have been displaced yet, meaning that whilst services will be returning to their usual schedules, some journeys will see a slightly increased time duration.
Customer Services Director for Great Northern and Thameslink Jenny Saunders said:
“I'd really like to thank all our passengers between Cambridge and King's Lynn for their patience while this work was carried out.
“This Wednesday we'll be able to remove the hourly shuttle we've been running on the Fen Line and restore our direct services between King's Lynn, Cambridge and London.
“Services to and from King's Lynn will no longer have to finish early each evening for engineering work and there will be an extra train every hour into London King's Cross as a result, creating more space for our passengers.”
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