Oakham rail passengers are being warned that there will be no trains in or out of London King's Cross later this month as vital improvement work on the East Coast Main Line continues.

Over the weekend Saturday, 29 February and Sunday, 1 March Network Rail will work to test signalling equipment at Stevenage station as part of work to build a new platform.

New overhead line equipment is also being installed.

To allow this work to take place safely, no services are able to run between Peterborough - where passengers from Oakham change trains - and London King's Cross on these two days.

Passengers are advised to travel on Friday, 28 February or Monday, 2 March instead, although these services will be very busy and Network Rail advises booking in advance and reserving a seat where possible.

Ed Akers, Principal Programme Sponsor for Network Rail, said: "We know that there have been numerous changes to services to and from London over the past two months and we apologise for any inconvenience which this has caused.

"There's never a good time carry out upgrade work on this scale.

"The work taking place on Saturday, 29 February and Sunday, 1 March is absolutely vital to keep this scheme progressing well and we would urge passengers not to travel to and from London on the affected routes on these dates.

"This work is the final weekend which this project will impact on services until June and I would like to thank passengers for their continued patience whilst we work on this project, which will bring huge benefits to passengers."

The work is part of the £1.2 billion East Coast Upgrade, the biggest investment into the line in a generation.

There will be a reduced service on the East Coast Main Line this weekend, Saturday, 15 and Sunday, 16 February and passengers are urged to check before travelling.

Further periods of planned engineering work will take place later this year, with the next weekend of no services to or from London King's Cross on Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 June.

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