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Tuesday 6 Jan 2026

Network Rail completes bumper package of Christmas and New Year engineering work across London and the south east

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Kent

| Southern: Sussex

Platform rebuilding, track replacement and power-supply upgrades have all been completed across Kent, Sussex and south London over the festive period.

Network Rail has completed a bumper package of Christmas upgrades and maintenance following 12 days of work across Kent, Sussex, parts of Surrey and south London.

Engineers have refurbished track and equipment at busy switches and crossings/points at Ashford, Gatwick, Three Bridges, Elephant and Castle, Wadhurst and Lee. Switches and crossings, or points, where trains switch paths, are some of the most complicated and heavily used sections of the railway.

Between Cannon Street and London Bridge, wooden sleepers were replaced and track was re-aligned on bridges and viaducts.  With hundreds of passenger and freight trains, weighing up to a thousand tonnes, travelling over them each day, regular maintenance and replacement of components is needed to ensure reliability for Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express passengers.

Power supply upgrades were also completed at London Bridge and Cannon Street and in the Loughborough Junction area. With longer and heavier trains running on the network today, Network Rail has invested heavily in upgrading power supplies. Over the next few years, some 150km of electric conductor rail will be replaced, as well as 92 km of high‑voltage cable. These upgrades will stop power drops that lead to stalled trains, failed signals and disrupted journeys.

At South Bermondsey, a full rebuild of the station platforms was completed with new steel frames, a non-slip surface, improved drainage and lighting that will improve safety and the passenger experience.

Work has also progressed with the major signalling upgrades at Lewisham ahead of the final commissioning of a state-of-the-art signalling system due to be switched on in south-east London next Christmas.

David Davidson, Chief Operating Officer for the South Eastern Railway said: “Thank you to passengers for managing journey changes over the festive period, and thanks also to all colleagues who worked over the Christmas and the New Year period.

“We know there is never a good time to close the railway – with passenger numbers lowest at this time of year, fewer peoples’ journeys were disrupted.”