Media centre

Tuesday 17 May 2016

Network Rail engineers prepare for more work in the South East this second May bank holiday

Region & Route:

| Southern

With the second May bank holiday coming up, Network Rail engineers are about to deliver another three days of major improvement work for passengers in the south east.

The Thameslink Programme’s ongoing project to rebuild the railway around London Bridge will take another big step forward and will form one of the biggest sections of the long weekend’s work.

This will see Southeastern trains diverted away from Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street and London Bridge (apart from Hastings line trains) while track and signalling equipment is dug up and replaced in the area. Southern and Thameslink services will continue to serve London Bridge. The work is in preparation for the next phase of changes in August when services to Cannon Street will stop calling at the station, services to Charing Cross will resume and the first half of the brand new street-level concourse will open.

Network Rail’s route managing director for the South East, Alasdair Coates, said: “Bank Holidays are hugely important to us on the railway as they give us a three-day window where we can tackle major projects, while affecting fewer passengers than if we did the work in the week.

“Over the three days from May 28-30, we will be laying new track on the railway near Bermondsey, which will allow us to link the existing railway with the ‘dive-under’ being built in the area. We will also finishing vital strengthening work on an iron bridge over the River Arun that began over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

“As many people will have picked up, much of our work involves taking our Victorian legacy and updating it for the modern age. We need to keep updating the railway to improve our every day performance for the millions of people who rely on us.”

As well as Thameslink, work on the tracks between Plumstead and Slade Green will take place on Sunday only, as part of Crossrail’s rebuilding of Abbey Wood station.

Network Rail will also be carrying out signalling work and inspecting bridges between Streatham and Epsom/Sutton, footbridges on Sunday and Monday. This work will affect Thameslink and Southern services.

Southeastern’s Managing Director, David Statham said: “Whilst there is never a good time for engineering work to take place on our network, it is essential for Network Rail to carry out this work. We advise all passengers who are planning to travel over the bank holiday weekend to check before the travel.”

Passengers are advised to check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk, or www.southernrailway.com and www.southeasternrailway.co.uk

In addition they can follow our work on Twitter with the hashtag #SpringBHWorks

Notes to editors:

 

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s investment programme for Britain’s railways and is part of our £40bn spending programme for the five-year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations

Although the vast majority of the network will be unaffected by planned improvement work, passengers are advised to check their journeys if travelling over the bank holiday at nationalrail.co.uk.

Service changes:

Southeastern:

From Saturday 28 to Monday 30 May;

No services at Charing Cross, Waterloo East or Cannon Street. Services diverted to Victoria, Blackfriars or New Cross.

No  Southeastern services to London Bridge except for Hastings line trains which, after Tonbridge, will run via Redhill and East Croydon.

Buses between New Cross and Charlton, calling at Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill and Westcombe Park.

Buses between Folkestone Central and Dover Priory while Network Rail builds a new viaduct.

Additionally, on Sunday 29 May only;

Buses replace trains between Plumstead and Dartford.

Buses replace trains between Canterbury East and Dover Priory.

Southern;

Saturday will see a normal service on all routes except the Mainline West route, with buses replacing trains between Horsham and Barnham.

Sunday will see a normal service on all routes except the Metro and Mainline West route, with buses replacing trains between Streatham and Epsom (via Mitcham and Sutton). Epsom to Dorking only served by South West Trains.

Mainline West route passengers can expect buses to replace trains between Billingshurst and Barnham/Bognor Regis.

Sunday will see trains on the Metro route being replaced with Buses between Streatham and Sutton and on the Mainline West route, buses will replace trains between Billingshurst and Barnham.