Major London train route to shut for five days at Christmas

Thameslink has revealed that no services will run between St Pancras and Sutton from Christmas Day until December 29.

This means trains will also not call at major station including Farringdon, City Thameslink, London Blackfriars, Elephant & Castle, Tulse Hill, Mitcham Junction, Wimbledon and Sutton.

The closure will be in place so that engineers can install 1.67km of new rails on track between Farringdon and Blackfriars.

Lucy McAuliffe, Network Rail’s Sussex route director, explained: “The rails between St Pancras International and Blackfriars were installed in 2011.

“After 13 years and thousands of trains passing over the track, the rails are worn and need replacing with brand new rail to prevent faults delaying passenger journeys.”

Trains between Three Bridges and Luton or Bedford will also not run during this period, apart from on December 29 when there will be a limited service between London Bridge and Three Bridges.

Network Rail says any scrap rail left over after construction of the new track will be recycled.

Journeys north of St Pancras will be impacted by separate engineering work , meaning no Thameslink trains will run to or from Harpenden from December 21 until December 29.

Jenny Saunders, customer service director for Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We know how important this time of the year is to our customers, which is why, with such a lengthy period of improvement work planned over the festive period, we want to give them as much time as possible to plan ahead.

“It really is vital to consider your options now. Thank you for your patience.”

There will also be reduced services on other Thameslink routes between Christmas Day and December 29.

A limited number of trains will run on the Bedford to Brighton and Luton to Rainham routes. But these will all only go between London Bridge and either Brighton or Rainham.

Services from London Blackfriars to Sevenoaks will instead go to and from London Victoria, and only one train an hour has been scheduled for this route.

Rail replacement buses will be operating on some routes, but these will be limited, and they are expected to be extremely busy, Thameslink has warned.

Services to and from airports will also be affected during this period with fewer trains serving Gatwick Airport and Luton Airport Parkway.

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