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Thursday 5 Mar 2020

Passengers advised to check before they travel as Network Rail renews railway between Greenwich, Blackheath and Deptford for two weekends

Region & Route:

Southern

For the next two weekends, 7 and 8 March and 14 and 15 March, buses will replace trains along the Greenwich line between Deptford/Blackheath and Plumstead stations, as Network Rail works to lay nearly a kilometre of new track, sleepers and ballast on the line.

The work will allow the removal of speed restrictions which have been put in place because of worn out track, helping to speed up trains, reduce delay and give passengers smoother, more reliable journeys. Closing the line during at weekends means that the work can be done safely, in less time.

The work comes on top of a £70m+ investment in this section of the South East network over the past 12 months, which included a new £55m signalling system on both the Greenwich and Blackheath routes. The track and points were also replaced on the busy junctions for Greenwich and Lewisham trains on the lines from London Bridge.

Fiona Taylor, Route Director, Kent. Network Rail said: “While infrastructure faults are down by 30 per cent on this part of the network, we know that even a minor incident in this incredibly congested area will have a major impact on the train service. That’s why our upgrade work is so important to ensuring trains run reliably.

“We know it’s inconvenient for passengers when we close the railway and would like to thank them for their patience while we do this important work.  Most of the network is open as usual but please check your journey before travelling.”

Scott Brightwell, Southeastern Train Services Director said: “We always try to keep passenger disruption to a minimum but this is essential work that will improve the future reliability of our services. On both weekends we are putting on replacement buses that will run every 30 minutes between Lewisham and Plumstead via New Cross and Greenwich.”

As a result of the line closure there will be a reduced service to Cannon Street and trains will run between Plumstead and Dartford only.

Passengers are advised to check their journey before they travel. Visit Southeastern or National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner for more information.