Railway line between Bedford and London to shut over Christmas

Train services running between London and the many parts of the East of England will shut down over Christmas for engineering work.

A section of the Midland Main line will close for nine consecutive days from the 21 December to allow Network Rail engineers to complete a number of projects between London St Pancras and Bedford.

It will mean no trains will run on East Midlands Railway between St Pancras and Bedford or Thameslink between the London station and Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

Passengers should check their routes and expect disruption if travelling to or from stations such as Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, Bedford, Kettering, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.

Mark Budden, route director for Network Rail's East Midlands route apologised for disruption over the Christmas period.

He said: "We're deploying hundreds of people to carry out dozens of jobs to prevent further disruption at another time.

"Once complete, this essential work will mean passengers will have smoother, faster and more reliable journeys."

Passengers travelling by rail to London Luton Airport will be affected by the disruption.

A spokesperson for the airport said: "We'll be liaising closely with rail operators to minimise the level of disruption and working with our coach and bus operators to explore the possibility of additional services to and from Central London during this period."