Friday 9 Nov 2018
South Western Railway passengers advised to check before travelling over festive period
- Region & Route:
- Southern: Wessex
- | Southern
South Western Railway passengers have been urged to plan ahead this festive period as Network Rail carry out important upgrade work as part of a nationwide investment of more than £148 million.
Network Rail’s ‘team orange’ will be working throughout the festive period to deliver this investment in the railway, helping provide a better, more reliable train service for passengers.
Waterloo station: Work includes the replacement of old switches and crossings, the movable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another, from December 23 until December 28 (inclusive). Around half of normal services will be operating during this time.
Vauxhall station: Work will take place between December 23 and December 27 as part of the £4 million project to strengthen and improve the Upper Kennington Lane bridge. Platforms 5 to 8 at Vauxhall will be shut for this work.
Guildford station: Brick repairs and preparatory work for the refurbishing and strengthening of the railway bridge on Farnham Road will be carried out from December 25 until December 30 (inclusive).
Westbury area: Track renewals at Westbury North Junction and work to improve platforms at Westbury station will take place between December 23 and January 3 inclusive, meaning there will be no South Western Railway services between Salisbury, Westbury and Bristol.
With Victoria and Paddington stations both closed for part of the festive period for their own engineering work, both Waterloo and Clapham Junction stations could be busier than normal at this time of year.
These upgrades are 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.
Becky Lumlock, Wessex route managing director for Network Rail, said:
“Our ‘team orange’ engineers will be working around the clock throughout the festive period, delivering vital work to provide a better, more reliable railway for our passengers.
“The network is around 50% less busy over the festive period, so while there’s never a good time to cause disruption, this means fewer people will have their journeys affected.
“We’re working closely with South Western Railway to make sure passengers can get to where they need to be over the festive period, but it’s important to check if your journey is affected before you travel.”
Alan Penlington, Customer Experience Director for South Western Railway, said:
“We’re doing all we can to reduce the impact of Network Rail’s vital engineering work on our customers, including putting on rail replacement services to keep our passengers on the move.
“We recommend you look online for further journey information and check other train companies’ publicity too as works elsewhere may affect your journey.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Timetables for SWR services over the festive period will be published online soon.
London service impact- December 23 & 24:
Around half of London Waterloo station will be closed on December 23 and 24. This will affect platforms 1 to 10 and mostly long distance and suburban services towards Chessington, Epsom, Surbiton, Kingston, Basingstoke and Alton. Portsmouth services via Guildford and other train services will also be altered with only about half the normal train service running in and out of London Waterloo.
Services will not run from platforms 5 to 8 at Vauxhall station on December 23 and 24.
There will be no Southern train services between London Victoria and Clapham Junction from December 22 to December 24. This will result in extra passengers for services into London Waterloo, which are likely to be very busy through this period.
Westbury service impact- December 23 & 24
Track renewals and platform improvements at Westbury station will take place on December 23 and 24. There will be no South Western Railway service between Salisbury and Bristol. Buses will replace Great Western Railway services between Warminster and Trowbridge.
South Western Railway and Island Line will run NO SERVICE on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
The railway does not shut down over the Christmas period.
Network Rail may run engineering or maintenance trains and the conductor rail will remain “live” at all times.
It is never safe to go on the tracks.
London service impact- December 27 to January 1
Around half of London Waterloo station will be closed on December 27 and December 28. This will affect platforms 12 to 24 and mostly services running via Twickenham, Hounslow and Staines, which will not run between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction. Remaining train services between Clapham Junction and London Waterloo will be very busy due to London Victoria also being partly closed.
There will be no Southern services between London Victoria and Clapham Junction from December 27 to January 1 and only very limited Southern services from Clapham Junction towards East Croydon.
This will result in extra passengers for services into London Waterloo, which are likely to be very busy through this period.
For Victoria, passengers should use services to Vauxhall and then London Underground.
Most Southern trains, including Gatwick Airport services, will be rerouted to and from London Bridge. Passengers can get to London Bridge via Waterloo and Southeastern services from Waterloo East.
Guildford service impact- December 27 to December 31
A limited service will run from Guildford station (platform 1 and the lines via Effingham Junction) from December 27 to December 31. A train service will run between London Waterloo and Guildford on the route which remains open. Trains on all other routes will be replaced by buses in the Guildford area.
Westbury service impact- December 27 to January 3
Track renewals and platform improvements at Westbury station will take place from December 27 to January 3. There will be no South Western Railway services between Salisbury and Bristol, or between Salisbury, Westbury, Frome and Yeovil Pen Mill during this period. Buses will replace Great Western Railway services between Warminster and Trowbridge.
Major engineering work will be taking place at other locations on the railway network throughout the holiday period and all long distance passengers should check their travel plans in advance.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - James Crook
Senior Media Relations Manager
Network Rail
07732 644202
james.crook@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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