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From Friday 29 March to Monday 1 April customers are being urged to check before they travel as buses replace trains across part of Network Rail’s Wessex route while Network Rail completes a range of essential upgrades to the railway as part of a wider £89m programme of investment across the country.

Lambeth Council and Network Rail have joined forces with many partners to develop an ambitious long-term plan for the future development of London Waterloo station and the surrounding Waterloo and South Bank area.

Great Western Railway services will be affected by essential maintenance work between Dorchester and Weymouth later in March.

People are being warned to plan ahead as the iconic Kingsferry Bridge is set to close for two weekends and two 8-day periods this summer for emergency repairs.

Work to repair a landslip at Newington in Kent has been completed by Network Rail

The railway line between Rainham and Sittingbourne will remain closed for at least the next seven days to allow Network Rail engineers to stabilise a landslip next to the railway at Newington.

• Samaritans’ Small Talk Saves Lives campaign launches as half the nation admit to swerving someone they don’t know to avoid small talk.
• Nearly half of British adults in the Southern region avoid engaging with someone they don’t know to avoid small talk.
• 24% are worried they would say the wrong thing when engaging with someone.
• 92% of people say they don’t have a go-to question to start small talk.
• 82% have used small talk in their personal lives over the past month.

Network Rail and South Western Railway have officially switched on new signalling equipment to bring more reliable journeys to customers travelling between Reading, London and Guildford.