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Friday 25 Nov 2022

One month to go: Passengers in South East London and Kent are advised to plan ahead of a 10-day closure of the railway this Christmas and New Year

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Kent

Over the festive period Network Rail is carrying out ten days of track upgrades at a busy railway junction in Lewisham.

This Christmas, Network Rail engineers will be working around the clock to renew a major railway junction in Lewisham between Saturday 24 December and Monday 2 January 2023.

Lewisham Junction sits on the busy approach to the station and is a key junction that controls the movement of more than a third of Southeastern trains travelling in and out of London every day.

The work will include replacing eight sets of switches and crossings, the rails which allow trains to cross lines, installing 710 metres of new rail, 6,000 tonnes of ballast and 1,000 metres of third rail, the electrified rail which powers trains, to improve reliability for passengers.

Fiona Taylor, Network Rail’s Kent route director, said: “I’m really happy we’re able to invest £10.5 million to renew one of the busiest railway junctions in London.

“Passengers will be all too aware that Lewisham is such a busy and critical part of the railway with more than 800 trains passing through every day. So even a minor track or signalling fault can cause trains to quickly stack up behind each other, with disruption rippling across the railway.

“This junction renewal will replace fault prone 1960s and 70s kit which will allow more trains to run through to London, meaning a better service for passengers with fewer delays.”

Scott Brightwell, Southeastern’s operations and safety director, said: “We’re sorry about the inconvenience this line closure will cause our customers over Christmas, but it is essential improvement work that needs to be done on a very busy part of our network.

“We’re running a replacement bus service along the affected line and our other London routes will be open as normal. Please check journey planners before you travel.”

The track work means no trains will run through Lewisham, St Johns, New Cross or the Bexleyheath Line throughout the 10-day closure.

A replacement bus service will run from Dartford and New Cross via Bexleyheath and Lewisham.

Preparatory and follow up work will take place on the following dates:

• Sunday 27 November
• Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December
• Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 January 2023

While the majority of the railway still remains open for travel, journeys into London Bridge may be rerouted or retimed. Customers are being advised to check journey planners if they are travelling on the affected dates.