The Northern City Line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate will be closed on Sunday, 19th June to allow engineers to further test the route’s digital signalling.

During the closure, there will be no services between Finsbury Park and Moorgate and intermediate stations will be closed.

Trains to and from Moorgate will be diverted into London King’s Cross. Passengers travelling to Moorgate will be able to use their ticket on London Bus route 271 and on London Underground between London King’s Cross / London St Pancras International and Moorgate.

The work is part of the Government-funded East Coast Digital Programme, which will remove traditional signals removed from the tracks along the route. Digital signalling reduces delays and provides a more reliable service for passengers.

The first test train using digital signalling ran in the early hours of Sunday, 29th May. Intensive testing will continue throughout this year to ensure that the train fleet, which is already fitted with the necessary technology, works well with the new digital signalling infrastructure. That is the part of the system that communicates directly with the train cab. It is expected that driver training and migration to digital signalling will start next year.

Passengers should allow plenty of time for their journey and check before travelling via National Rail Enquiries or greatnorthernrail.com

Toufic Machnouk, Network Rail’s Director, Industry Partnership for Digital Railway, said:

“We are continuing with an intensive testing programme to ensure the new digital technology is ready to deliver more reliable services. The vast majority of the work is taking place out of normal passenger service hours, but there are occasions where more time is required for testing to take place”.

Jenny Saunders, Great Northern‘s Customer Services Director, said:

“We’re doing our best to keep disruption for this vital improvement work to a minimum. Our trains to Moorgate will be diverted into King’s Cross on this particular Sunday, so please allow longer if you’re heading that way. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”