Over the last two weekends in October, either side of the Half-term holiday, Network Rail has announced engineering works between Doncaster and Darlington, which will affect services on the East Coast Main Line and at other major destinations, including York and Leeds.

In addition to this, there will be no direct services from Leeds to York for a full nine days, due to the installation of a new road bridge at Church Fenton as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Over the course of the two weekends of 24th & 25th October and 31st October and 1st November, CrossCountry services will be running replacement coaches between Leeds and Darlington; these will not stop at York. Grand Central services won’t be running trains between London King’s Cross and Sunderland.

LNER services will run from King’s Cross to Doncaster and from Scotland to Darlington. Passengers travelling through from London to Edinburgh will be required to change onto replacement coach services between Doncaster and Darlington.

LNER passengers travelling to York from the south will need to board a Leeds service and change onto a replacement coach at Wakefield. LNER passengers travelling to York from the north should board a replacement coach at Northallerton.

Lumo will not run direct trains from King’s Cross to Edinburgh, though they will run trains from Newcastle to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Northern Services will run to York from Leeds; buses will run between Moorthorpe, Micklefield, Selby, Poppleton and York.

Over the weekend of the 24th and 25th October, TransPennine Express services will not run from Wakefield Kirkgate to Leeds to Northallerton or from Redcar Central to Saltburn. Both routes will see bus replacement services. York to Scarborough services are unaffected.

Over the Weekend of 31st October and 1st November, buses will replace TransPennine Express services between Leeds and York. York to Scarborough services are unaffected.

In addition to the bridge installation south-west of York, Network Rail is undertaking drainage works near Shipton, replacing track work at Tollerton, North Colton Junction, Northallerton, York, Holgate and Skelton Junctions.

Other work includes cutting back lineside vegetation between Thirsk and Tollerton, replacing overhead power lines at York and Colton Junction, and resurfacing platform 2 at York station.

The projects to be undertaken on the lines around York will be some of the biggest since tracks were replaced at York station in 2023.

“Engineers will be carrying out a major programme of improvements across North Yorkshire to make the East Coast Main Line more reliable for passengers and freight customers. These upgrades will help reduce the need for unplanned repairs, improve performance and support a more reliable railway for years to come.

“We know these works will mean some journeys take longer than usual or involve a rail replacement bus. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused and we thank passengers for their patience while we complete these important improvements.

“We encourage anyone planning to travel over the two weekends to check their journey in advance with National Rail or their train operator.”

Gunnar Lindahl, joint operations director for Network Rail and LNER