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Wednesday 16 Jun 2021

Essential improvements to railway between Lewisham and Orpington means changes to trains for five weekends – don’t forget to check before you travel!

Region & Route:

Southern: Kent

| Southern

Passengers who travel between Orpington and Lewisham are being asked to plan ahead as essential improvement work is carried out in the Grove Park area over five weekends in late June and through July.  There will also be replacement buses between Grove Park and Bromley North over the same weekends

Network Rail engineers will be improving ten switches and crossings, which help trains change from one track to another, near Hither Green on the Grove Park line. The main line to Kent is one of the busiest routes in south east London and the heavily-used track is subject to continual wear and tear.

Fiona Taylor, Network Rail Route Director for Kent, said: “I’m sorry for the disruption to passengers’ journeys from this work, but only by doing this kind of job can we continue to offer reliable journeys for passengers. I’d urge passengers travelling from Gravesend, Ramsgate via Dover Priory, Hayes to and from London, to check before they travel at the weekends in late June and through July.”

“Scott Brightwell, Train Services Director at Southeastern, said: “We know that more and more people are travelling with us on the weekends now and it’s not ideal that the line is closing for five weekends in a row. It’s a heavily used part of the network and the track does need replacing to improve journeys for our passengers. There are replacement buses available or alternative routes to London and the coast, which shouldn’t add too much time to your journey.”

The new track and crossings will help to improve the resilience of network, reducing the risk of future delays for passengers.

Over 400 metres of track and 650 railway sleepers will be laid, in addition to the crossings. To speed up the work, the track will be laid in factory-assembled sections, which will considerably reduce the time needed to close the line.

Full details can be found on the Southeastern website in the ‘Planned Engineering Work’ page here.