Another weekend with no direct trains to London for passengers from Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough

Train travellers heading south from Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough face another weekend of chaos.

Buses will replace East Midlands Railway services between Corby and Kettering AND between Bedford and Luton this Saturday (March 19) and Sunday, more than doubling journey times to the capital.

Network Rail warns this is the first of "several weekends during 2022" where the railway will be closed so that engineers can boost power supply in the overhead cables installed last year as part of the £1.5bn Midland Main Line electrification project.

Operators promise the upgrade work being carried out will make sure "better journeys are on track" for Northamptonshire passengers.

Gary Walsh, Network Rail route director, said: “We’re at a really exciting stage of the Midland Main Line Upgrade, which will see us boost the power supply south of Bedford and take us one step closer to delivering better, more reliable journeys for passengers.

“Although we've packaged multiple projects together to keep disruption to a minimum, I’d advise anybody who needs to travel to check their journey in advance as there will be some changes to train services."

Connect services from Corby will not run all weekend while work continues to enhance the historic platform canopies at Kettering and Wellingborough stations.

Two InterCity trains an hour will run towards London stopping at both Kettering and Wellingborough but passengers will need to change for a bus service at Bedford, then rejoin a shuttle train service at Luton to finish the journey to St Pancras International.