Hi from the Great Northern Social team 👋! Connecting you to London from Cambridge, Peterborough and more; we're here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
📢 Today the first two, brand new, air-conditioned, six-carriage Class 717 trains start running in all-day passenger service on Great Northern services calling at all stations to and from Moorgate.
📣 Today saw the very first, brand new
#Class717
run on a special preview/testing service from Moorgate to Gordon Hill. We’re working hard to get these trains, stations and our people ready for introduction this autumn. These will replace 40 year old trains on the Moorgate line.
“For women young or old, I would highly recommend a career as a train driver. For those leaving school or college – consider joining the railway family. It’s a great place to be!”
#RailwayHeroes
#RailwayFamily
Read more 👉
“I’ve always wanted to work on the trains & I love being a driver. My daughter loves it too, & I visited her school as part of a careers day. She enjoyed showing me off” - Great Northern Train Driver Myles Francis
#RailwayHeroes
#RailwayFamily
Travel tips👉
The 14th Class 717 entered all-day passenger service on routes to Moorgate today. The new fleet roll-out is now two-thirds complete and we’ll be retiring the Class 313 from the route very soon.
Today, the 21st, brand new Class 717 train entered all-day passenger service on the routes to/from Moorgate, meaning the roll-out of the new fleet is now complete. 1/6
@rhiannonlucyc
Hi Rhiannon, I'm sorry to hear this. I have spoken to Finsbury Park and they advised they have found items in a bag matching your description. Are you able to send us a PM if you know when you would be able to collect it? You can do this using the link below. ^Jo
🚈Overnight while most of us are tucked up in bed, some of our staff have been busy conducting operational testing for the brand new class 717 trains which will soon be carrying passengers in and out of Moorgate station.
Here's a short video to show what they've been up to.
"Tickets please?" 🐱
We thought we'd share this great picture with our followers, credits to Maria!
Hopefully Nala brightens up your morning, like she has for me. ✨ ^Kirsty
Green signal ahead for new trains for the routes to Moorgate as
#15
and
#16
started all-day service this week.
The roll-out is now 75% complete, so if you’ve seen one of the old fleet on your way today, nearly time to wish it a happy retirement.
🚉 The very first cross London
@TLRailUK
service from Peterborough to Horsham.
🚇 At Finsbury Park, we’ll be taking the newly built Canal tunnel through to St Pancras International, stations to London Bridge and onto Horsham.
ℹ️ 👉
Following the collapse of
#ThomasCook
we want to support those impacted who may already have plans to travel to or from
@LDNLutonAirport
or
@Gatwick_Airport
. If you have bought rail tickets from us & no longer travelling, you'll be able to get a full refund (with no admin fee).
🚆 Retired driver, Ian, was on board one of the first Class 717 trains this week as a VIP guest. He drove the Class 313s for 26 years and started his career working on steam trains! Here's Ian and our Engineering Director, Gerry, at Moorgate
📢 Today the third class 717 train entered all-day weekday passenger service on routes to & from Moorgate. And, numbers four and five are not too far behind.
We’re happy to inaugurate a fifth platform and track at Stevenage station!🚉 This will enable more frequent and reliable services, and will provide better connectivity with other destinations on the East Coast Main Line. Find out more👉
👋 And off they go… two more Class 313s left our network yesterday, as more and more brand new Class 717s enter service.
Our 313s were hauled off to Wales, and with the completion of a couple more moves later this week – we’ll have sent 11 back to their owners, Eversholt Rail.
The Class 365s have been a favourite for many of our spotters, so we would love to see your pictures from over the years!
Do you have any fond memories? Be sure to share them below. 👇
📷 Mike from Control.
👟 We hate to sound like a bore,
👢 But please keep your feet on the floor.
👡 Your shoes may be dirty with mud and grass,
👞 And we wouldn't want passengers getting a dirty... bottom.
@zaclechien
Hello, if someone is unnecessarily taking up a seat with a bag I'd recommend casually asking if you can sit there [in the seat] and the vast majority of people will move it straight away. If they don't, just sit on it [their bag]. ^Nat
As more of the new Class 717s enter service, we’re saying goodbye to more and more of our 313s. Today,
#027
made its final trip through a rather blustery Finsbury Park.
You can find out more about the 717 fleet at
This morning at 09:43, we're joining
@ScotRail
,
@NetworkRailSCOT
and colleagues from across the
#RailwayFamily
in holding one minute's silence to remember those who sadly lost their lives a week ago near Stonehaven.
👟 We hate to sound like a bore,
👢 But please keep your feet on the floor.
👡 Your shoes may be dirty with mud and grass,
👞 And we wouldn't want passengers getting a dirty... bottom.
🤔 Not sure what side of the road you need to be on?
🤓 Departure boards at King's Cross now also display Thameslink services from neighbouring St Pancras to Cambridge & Peterborough
🚉 A milestone moment today for the East Coast Digital Programme as passengers began travelling to the City of London in trains controlled by cutting-edge digital in-cab signalling.
@SiemensMobility
@NetworkRail
ℹ️ Read more👇
It also means we're saying farewell to the Class 313 from the route. In service since 1976, they've been back and forth to Moorgate a fair few times in their time. 2/6
🚆 Out with the old and in with the new this week, as our ninth, Class 717 train started all-day service.
Did you know, nearly 140 passenger services are covered by our new fleet as of today, up from 30 just a couple of months ago?
🚆
@networkrail
have successfully delivered a project to relocate signals on the route between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. Two more 717s are in service next week, as is our first Saturday service as the roll-out continues.
@digitalrailway
ℹ️More info👉
Our first 8 carriage train, calling at all
#FenLine
stations, arrives into King’s Lynn! More info here
They will start to run from Sunday 13 December, thanks to
@NetworkRailAng
upgrading this key route.
@transportgovuk
@chhcalling
Constructed between 1994 and 1995, these units have been assisting our customers from London King's Cross to Stevenage, and Royston to Peterborough during peak travel hours.
🗺 The Class 717s will run all-day Monday-Friday and here's the full service plan.
Interested in finding out when a 717 will be at your station? Try using this information with this website 👇
To be precise about 'few times', if the 313 fleet could get past its 75mph top speed and somehow into orbit, they've clocked up enough mileage for six round trips to the moon! And all that for 460 million or so passenger journeys, 7X the UK's population 3/6
☀️ From this summer, you may see red carriage 387s operating as part of Great Northern trains stopping at stations between King’s Cross and Peterborough and King’s Cross and King’s Lynn.
It will also mean more modern trains with air-conditioning to keep you cool.
⚡️The 1st image shows a pantograph on the track. This collects electricity from the overhead wires and is fixed to the train roof 👇
⚡️ The 2nd image shows the wires have come down over the trains. The power has been switched off by circuit breakers 👇
@AnnaLangthorne
Oh no! Please can you DM us all information and a description of what the ballet shoes were in and I will call the station to see if they have been handed in ^Alice
🚇 On Monday the first
@TLRailuk
passenger service will run through the canal tunnel linking their routes onto ours.
🚉 Peterborough to Horsham
🚉 Cambridge to Brighton
This is part of the biggest transformation to the UK rail network in decades.
ℹ️
Did you know the 365 units haven't just lived on Great Northern routes?
At one time they could be spotted on South Eastern and ScotRail territories.
👀 Let us know if you ever travelled on one of these units!
So, it's all change on the GN Metro, but the Class 313 isn't hanging up its boots just yet. There's a charity special running at the end of the month, raising a few thousand for charity - not a bad way to bow out... 6/6
📢 We'd like to apologise for the disruption this evening caused by a trespasser climbing the overhead lines at Kings Cross. This meant the power had to be switched off until the person was apprehended.
Please claim delay repay if delayed by 15 mins+ -
👷♀️👷 Our Fleet Infrastructure team have been hard at work transforming unused track in Cambridge to ensure our newly introduced services from Brighton to Cambridge run smoothly during our Summer Timetable change.
Take a look at what they've been up to 👉
We're proud to offer free travel for members of the Armed Forces, veterans & cadets to Remembrance Sunday events.
This is for travel with us to the national Cenotaph service in London & local events on the network on Sun 10 Nov.
@PoppyLegion
ℹ️
👟 We hate to sound like a bore,
👢 But please keep your feet on the floor.
👡 Your shoes may be dirty with mud and grass,
👞 And we wouldn't want passengers getting a dirty... bottom.
We're proud to
#ClapForCarers
and to continue running our services for all key workers. Here's the team at Hertford North with
@BTP
colleagues stopping for a quick snap before our special NHS wrapped train departed. 👏💙🚆. We're with you
#ClapForNHS
#SupportTheNHS
#railwayfamily
👟 We hate to sound like a bore,
👢 But please keep your feet on the floor.
👡 Your shoes may be dirty with mud and grass,
👞 And we wouldn't want passengers getting a dirty... bottom.
👑 The Class 365 truly has had a royal life – it has served our Queen, travelling from King’s Cross to King's Lynn at Christmas for her winter stay on the Sandringham Estate at Sandringham House.
Each Class 717 brings air-con, live tube updates, WiFi, modern accessibility and space for 100 extra people per service at the busiest times. They're all maintained by our team at Hornsey, a depot that can trace its heritage back to when Queen Victoria was on the throne. 5/6
Ok, some of those journeys might have been the same people, but you get the idea. There's 25 of the new trains in total, each one formed of six carriages - the maximum length the route can accommodate. That's 150 of the 1,526 new carriages introduced to GTR since 2014 4/6
Debbie from our Stevenage team recently braved the shave in aid of the mental health charity, Mind. She smashed her target of £200 and has raised just over £1000 so far 🙌. Great work!
#GivingTuesdayNow
#railwayfamily
Her JustGiving page is here 👇
👷♀️👷♂️ Our Managing Director, Tom Moran, recently paid a visit to Kings Cross to see how things are going with the
#EastCoastUpgrade
@ECMLupgrade
@NetworkRail
🔧 Progress is looking good with the new track layout for platforms 0-6 already in place
🚇The eighth, Class 717 started all-day service this week as we say goodbye to more 313s. Just under 40% of GN Metro weekday services are now operated by the new £240m fleet and we’ll be above 50% very soon.
You can find out more about the fleet👉
Stuart Young is one of many Rail Enforcement Officers who will be looking out for passengers using the railway this winter. “Although we all look forward to Christmas, it can be a difficult and lonely time for many. Let’s all work together to support each other.”
#RailwayFamily
We know how keen everyone is to see all 25 717s in service, but we want to ensure that the service is as reliable as possible.
That means double checking as we start putting in lots of miles onto the new trains.
🚆 Here’s an 8-car Great Northern train on the
#Fenline
! Longer trains are now running between Cambridge and King’s Lynn, thanks to an upgrade by
@NetworkRailAng
. Find out more about this boost to space and seats on our services 👉
Joint media statement from Network Rail, GTR and Northern
We are again extremely sorry to all passengers affected by recent disruption, and are setting out how we’re going to improve the service for our customers as quickly as possible:
🙌 A big thanks to
@geofftech
for joining us out and about at our stations and on our trains,
as we explain what we're doing to help keep passengers safe as part of our
#SaferTravelPledge
.
It is with great sadness that we report a person has been hit by a train between Stevenage and Alexandra Palace.
All lines are blocked between these stations whilst the emergency services work to deal with this incident.
Service information will follow.
👷♀️
@NetworkRail
are starting a project to untangle the tracks and replace equipment outside King’s Cross as part of The East Coast Upgrade. Work is planned for 13-14 July and the August bank holiday.
ℹ️More info👉
“Before I joined, the kids hadn’t been on trains, it’s been a real change. We planned a trip to Brighton before the pandemic, hopefully we’ll get to do this soon.” Reece Hill, 33, is a train shunter for Great Northern.
#RailwayHeroes
#RailwayFamily
🦺This weekend,
@NetworkRail
is carrying out major engineering works to improve the service on the East Coast Mainline.
No
@GNRailUK
or
@TLRailUK
trains running on most of our network.
There are also no
@LNER
,
@GC_Rail
or
@Hull_Trains
running to / from London King's Cross.
@_nickread
Thank you (I think) Nick. I wouldn't say I have contempt for anyone. I appreciate it has been a very difficult week for passengers and anything but complete honesty will not be enough tolerated by passengers. ^Neil
👷♀️
@NetworkRail
are starting a project to untangle the tracks and replace equipment outside King’s Cross as part of The East Coast Upgrade. Work is planned for 13-14 July and the August bank holiday.
ℹ️More info👉