{"id":8916,"date":"2026-04-18T05:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/8916\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:13:14","slug":"weekend-of-disruption-expected-on-midland-mainline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/8916\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend of disruption expected on Midland Mainline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Work to remove an old footbridge over a busy section of the Midland Mainline has begun, with disruption expected until Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Network Rail said the structure at Harlington station in Bedfordshire would be taken down after a new one &#8211; designed to last 120 years &#8211; opened on 9 April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The work, part of a series of improvements, means buses are replacing Thameslink trains between Bedford and Harpenden, until 20 April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dan Matthews, Network Rail&#8217;s operations director said: &#8220;By co-ordinating this work with other key upgrades along the route, we are keeping disruption to a minimum and helping passengers see the benefits as quickly as possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">East Midland Railway is not running trains between Bedford and London St Pancras during this time, with a replacement bus service operating between Bedford and Hitchin.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A close up of the new, blue footbridge at Harlington station, with the overhead cables passing underneath it. The new structure is designed to last 120 years. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/86a9bfb1917291f130f1cd1464b9118c.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Network Rail says the new footbridge at Harlington is designed to last 120 years [Network Rail]<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While services are suspended, Network Rail engineers said they would also carry out:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Track renewal at Flitwick, where five engineering trains and a tamper maintenance machine will install 642 metres of new rail, along with 2,760 tonnes of ballast and 1,008 concrete sleepers<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Further work on the Access for All project at Luton station, to install an accessible footbridge and three lifts<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Drainage work at Harpenden station to prevent flooding, protect the railway and support safer, more reliable services for passengers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Adrian Gogay, infrastructure director for Thameslink, said: &#8220;I would like to apologise to customers [as] journeys are going to take longer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Please do plan ahead, allow more time and check the latest online before setting out &#8211; especially if you are travelling to Luton Airport.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjf099?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Sounds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;BBC Sounds&quot;}\" class=\"link \">BBC Sounds<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCBedsHertsBucks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbc3cr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BBC3cr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;X&quot;}\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>More on this storyRelated internet links<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Work to remove an old footbridge over a busy section of the Midland Mainline has begun, with disruption&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,4963,4964,4965,4966,4962,4961],"class_list":{"0":"post-8916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-east-midland-railway","10":"tag-footbridge","11":"tag-harlington-station","12":"tag-harpenden-station","13":"tag-midland-mainline","14":"tag-network-rail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}