Rail bosses warn passengers not to travel from Sheffield this weekend as repair work continues

Commuters were stuck at St Pancras railway station on Thursday after the overhead cables were damaged, severely disrupting East Midlands and Thameslink services.

Network Rail is now advising passengers that disruption to services on the Midland Main Line will continue over July 27 and 28.

Customers have been told to check before heading out on their journeys and not to travel on the London St Pancras-Nottingham-Sheffield route as there will be a ‘significantly reduced timetable’.

In order to give engineers on the ground enough time to work on the railway, operators have agreed that no trains will run on this portion of the line between midnight and 8am on Saturday and 8pm until 4am on Sunday.

As a reduced service is running, the trains which are running are expected to be incredibly busy and passengers are advised to allow additional time for their journey and to take plenty of water with them.

Paul Rutter, Chief Operating Office for Network Rail, said: “As an industry, we took pre-emptive action to reduce the services running yesterday in response to the forecast extreme heat. We continue to work closely with East Midlands Trains and Thameslink on keeping passengers moving safely and Network Rail engineers will continue to work round-the-clock to fix the over head line equipment, enabling a full service to run as soon as possible.

“We would advise passengers not to travel on the Midland Main Line over the weekend unless absolutely necessary. If you must travel, please check before travelling with your train operator or National Rail Enquiries. I would like to thank all those affected for their patience.”

East Midlands Trains and Thameslink are currently developing service plans and alternatives for the weekend for essential travel. Information will be available as soon as possible. For essential travel, please check before travelling.

After a week in which Britain has been hit by hot temperatures and thunderstorms, heavy rainfall could now bring flooding and travel disruption.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain which covers vast swathes of Scotland and England, with the exception of the South West region, until Sunday afternoon.

Delays or cancellations to train and bus services are possible.