Media centre

Tuesday 21 Dec 2021

Christmas is coming and Network Rail engineers are ready to unwrap more upgrades for busy Lewisham area of South East London

Region & Route:

Southern: Kent

| Southern

Network Rail engineers will be making more improvements to the busy railway around Lewisham this Christmas, continuing their efforts to improve reliability at one of London’s most congested spots.

Altogether around £8m will be spent on improvements in the area in the short time between Christmas Eve and early January.

Passengers travelling in South East London and Kent are advised to check before they travel this festive period, as that job and work at other locations will see different parts of the railway taken out of action.

Network Rail’s route director for Kent, Fiona Taylor, said: “For those of us who work on the railway, or travel on it, rebuilding the railway is as much a Christmas tradition as mince pies and paper hats and I appreciate everyone’s patience again as we get cracking on our latest improvements.

“Lewisham is such a busy area that even small improvements to reliability can have a major impact. That’s why we’re working through a package of improvements to all aspects of our railway there to improve reliability for passengers.

“It’s still a quieter time for passengers and still the best time for us to do major engineering like this, where we have to take lines out of service.”

Southeastern Train Services Director, Scott Brightwell, said: “I’d like to wish all our customers a merry Christmas and remind them to check before they travel with us over the festive season. Where we are unable to run trains due to the improvement work a replacement bus will be available instead, which shouldn’t add too much extra time to their journey.”

The work in Lewisham will see engineers replacing sets of points that allow trains to cross from one track to another. These swing back and forth many hundreds of times every day and are crucial to running a reliable train service.

Further afield, Network Rail engineers will be working to strengthen earthworks where the railway passes under the M25 near Swanley, and replacing worn wooden parts on bridges between London Bridge and Charing Cross. Called “wheel timbers” these support the tracks on metal Victorian bridges with weight limits and have a life span of around 10 years.

Trains through Lewisham will be affected from Monday 27 December 2021 to Monday 3 January 2022 inclusive. Buses will replace trains on the Hayes line and there are partial closures on the Grove Park line from Orpington and along the Sidcup line from Dartford too.

For full details please visit southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information