A road vehicle colliding with a bridge between St Albans and Luton is causing disruption to journeys between these stations.

Services may be cancelled, delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised.

We anticipate disruption will continue until 14:30.

Thameslink Customer Advice

Trains which usually run between Rainham / Gillingham and St Albans, and also between Brighton / Three Bridges and Bedford will be disrupted.

If you are travelling on trains on these routes, your journey may be delayed, and your train may be cancelled or revised at short notice.

You may need to use an alternative route to reach your destination, and your journey will take up to 40 minutes longer than usual.

You can use your ticket to travel at no extra cost on:

• Thameslink or Southern trains on any reasonable route to your destination
• East Midlands Railway services on any reasonable route
• London Northwestern routes between Central London and Bedford via Bletchley, and also between Central London and St Albans Abbey, which is within walking distance of St Albans
• London Underground service on any reasonable route
• London Buses between Central London and Elstree & Borehamwood including:
  • Route 83:  
    • Towards Glacier Way – between Hendon station and Wembley Park underground station for Jubilee and Metropolitan line connections, and Wembley Central (roughly 32-minute journey) for National Rail services.  
    • Towards Golders Green Station - between Hendon station and Hendon Central (roughly a 5-minute journey) for London Underground Northern line services. 
  • Route 114:
    • Towards Ruislip Station – between Mill Hill Broadway stop B and Burnt Oak station (a roughly 5-minute journey) for connecting to the London Underground Northern line.   
  • Route 303:
    • Towards Kingsbury Circle – between Mill Hill Broadway stop B and Colindale station, (a roughly 15-minute journey) for connecting to London Underground Northern line.   
  • Route 107
    • Towards Edgeware Station – between Elstree & Borehamwood and Edgware station, for connecting to the London Underground Northern line
    • Towards New Barnet station – between Elstree & Borehamwood and New Barnet, for connecting to Great Northern services
• Arriva Buses routes including:
  • Route A between Luton Airport, Luton Airport Parkway (Kimpton Road) and Luton town
  • Routes 27 / 28 / 23 between Leagrave station and Luton town
  • Route 300 between Hemel Hempstead, St Albans Abbey, and Welwyn Garden City
  • Route 321 between Luton and St Albans via Harpenden and onto Watford Junction and also between Elstree & Borehamwood, St Albans, and Harpenden
  • Route 724 between Hertford North and St Albans (for Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, and Watford Junction)
  • Routes 100 / 101 between Stevenage, Hitchin, and Luton
  • Routes 301 / 302 between Hatfield and St Albans

 

Please be aware these alternatives will extend your journey time by up to an additional 30 minutes, especially if your journey involves replacement road vehicles.

To help you plan your journey, you can find our alternative route maps on our website here

Before travelling, please check journey planners and station information boards, and allow extra time to reach your destination.

Check the live map here to see if your journey has been affected.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

When a road vehicle collides with a railway bridge this is called a bridge bash or 'strike'. Bridge strike incidents can be dangerous to both road and rail users. To allow Network Rail engineers to carry out extensive safety checks, the railway bridge is either temporarily closed or an emergency speed restriction is put in place. This can cause delays to both road users and rail passengers.

In this case, trains over the bridge are restricted to 5 miles per hour, and may only run in the direction towards London.

If you witness a bridge strike you should report it using the phone number on the identification plate fixed to the bridge. If no plate is provided you should report it to the Police by calling 999

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.