Media centre

Wednesday 28 Mar 2018

Network Rail reminds passengers to check before travelling ahead of multi-million pound upgrade work over Easter weekend

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

• All lines between Clapham Junction and Barnes will be closed from Good Friday (March 30) to the Bank Holiday Monday (April 2).
• No trains will serve Barnes on Sunday 1 April. Replacement bus services will be in operation.
• Services between London Waterloo, Windsor and Reading will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham from 30 March – 2 April.
• Other service alterations in place - passengers are advised to check before travelling over the Easter weekend.

Network Rail is reminding passengers across the south west London area to check their journeys before travelling this Easter as work takes place as part of a nationwide £118 million investment over the bank holiday weekend.

The Victorian railway bridge on Smuggler’s Way in Wandsworth will be replaced in a £5.5 million investment between Friday 30 March and Monday 2 April, improving reliability and enabling a temporary speed restriction to be lifted.

More than 45 Network Rail ‘Team Orange’ engineers will be replacing the life-expired bridge with a brand new 75-tonne structure as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

Access to businesses on the north side of the bridge will remain open and a diversionary route, as agreed with Wandsworth Borough Council, will be clearly signposted.

Part of Smuggler’s Way will be closed to allow access for heavy machinery and equipment during the closure and a road diversion will be in place throughout the work.

In addition to the bridge replacement in Wandsworth, re-signalling work will be carried out between Vauxhall and Clapham Junction to improve service reliability through the area. Bridge strengthening and refurbishment will also take place on the Hammersmith Road (Rocks Lane) overbridge which spans over all four platforms at Barnes station.

For full details of service alterations over the bank holiday weekend, please visit: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/planned-improvements/march-works

Becky Lumlock, route managing director for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said:

“I’d like to thank South Western Railway passengers in advance for bearing with us while we complete this important work over the Easter weekend which will see us invest millions to improve the network through our Railway Upgrade Plan.

“We understand there’s never a good time to cause disruption to services, but the extended bank holiday weekend presents a good opportunity to complete these essential pieces of work when there are fewer people travelling by road and rail, keeping disruption to a minimum.

Alan Penlington, Customer Experience Director for South Western Railway, said:

“I’d like to thank customers in advance for their patience ahead of Network Rail’s Easter engineering works in the south west London area. As with any complex works of this size, there will be an impact on services but we will do all we can to ensure that journeys run as smoothly as possible.

“We are advising customers to check their journeys before travelling over the Easter weekend at www.southwesternrailway.com or National Rail Enquiries.”

These pieces of work will take place as part of Network Rail’s massive £118 million Easter investment in Britain’s rail infrastructure.

A 15,000-strong workforce will work around the clock nationwide this Easter bank holiday weekend to deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers. 

The programme of work this Easter is just part of Network Rail’s five-year Railway Upgrade Plan – a multi-billion pound investment in the rail network which will improve passenger journeys in the months and years ahead.

ENDS