A fault with the signalling system between Moorgate and Finsbury Park means trains are currently unable to run. As a result of this, Drayton Park, Highbury & Islington, Essex Road, Old Street and Moorgate will not be served.

This is expected until 13:00.

Customer Advice

Until 12:30, Great Northern services which would usually run to & from Moorgate are revised.

The line is closed for emergency repairs to the signalling system.

Some southbound trains will be diverted after Finsbury Park, running to London Kings Cross only.

Others will terminate at Finsbury Park and will not proceed into central London.

All northbound trains which usually start their journeys from Moorgate will instead start from Finsbury Park.

You're advised to leave extra time for your journey. You'll need to take an alternative route if you usually use Great Northern services to & from Drayton Park, Highbury & Islington, Essex Road, Old Street or Moorgate.

London Underground services will accept Great Northern tickets for travel between Moorgate, Finsbury Park and Kings Cross St Pancras. This will also include intermediate stations served by the Tube, such as Old Street.

Thameslink will accept Great Northern tickets between Finsbury Park, London St Pancras International and Farringdon.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Yesterday afternoon, a signalling fault occurred in the Essex Road area. Network Rail own and maintain the signalling system and their engineers have been working around the clock to repair the problem.

Network Rail have discovered an issue with a rare piece of equipment of a type which is only used in a few places around the country. Our colleagues at TfL have kindly found a replacement in their stores, and engineers will fit this as soon as possible.

The piece of equipment is called a "tripcock". This is a mechanical piece of safety equipment which physically raises when the signal ahead is red, which would intervene with a valve on the train if it were to pass, preventing it from moving. When the signal clears, the arm lowers and the train can proceed normally.

When this equipment fails, the tripcock "fails safe". This means it remains in the raised position, preventing trains passing. Drivers can operate an override system to pass it. However, they need to speak to the signaller for permission and then carry out the override procedure, which takes extra time.

To reduce congestion caused by the delays, some trains this morning had been diverted to run on the route to Kings Cross, which is unaffected.

Engineers now need to close the line to install the replacement tripcock components and restore normal signalling. This closure has been delayed as long as possible to allow morning peak-time services to run.

Check before you travel:
You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

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Compensation:
You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.

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Last updated: 11:06

We advise customers NOT TO TRAVEL to London on 25-26 January 2020

No service will operate between London King's Cross / St Pancras and Hitchin / Peterborough.
No service will operate between Moorgate and Stevenage via Hertford North / Welwyn Garden City.

Work is planned every weekend on the East Coast Main Line throughout January and February as part of a multi-million pound programme. We strongly advise you to check before you travel as some weekends will see a reduced service running or no trains running with advice not to travel.

Click here to find out more

Last updated: 20/01/2020 08:54