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Monday 21 Jun 2021

Three days of work to remove speed restrictions planned for main line in Surrey this August – speeding up trains and improving reliability for customers

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Wessex

Network Rail engineers will be working on improving the railway near Weybridge over a long weekend in early August, keeping disruption to a minimum and increasing reliability for passengers.

They are set to work around the clock to renew three sets of points, which allow trains to change between tracks. Due to scale of the work required, engineers will need to work across three days, with all lines re-opening on Tuesday 10 August.

All four lines through the area have been subject to temporary speed restrictions due to issues with the levels of the track, slowing down both local services between London Waterloo and Woking and long distance services between London Waterloo, Exeter, Portsmouth and Weymouth.

When the switches and crossings are renewed and the track’s alignment is corrected, trains will be able to pass through the area at normal speeds, keeping them on time and improving performance.

Trains to and from London Waterloo will be diverted, leave earlier or later than normal and call at additional stops between Saturday 7 and Monday 9 August while Network Rail replaces track between Byfleet and New Haw and Weybridge for smoother journeys.

Between those dates, local services between Woking and Surbiton and Weybridge and Chertsey will be replaced by buses.

Network Rail’s Wessex route director, Mark Killick, said: “We really appreciate the patience of our customers while we carry out this upgrade work to deliver faster and more reliable services. Carrying out this work over three days will reduce the number of trains, however it will be less disruptive than spreading it over separate weekends and I would encourage all customers to check before travelling and plan ahead."

Alan Penlington, SWR’s customer experience director, said: “ The improvements to this important section of track near Weybridge will improve reliability and punctuality for years to come. Removing these speed restrictions will mean trains can run at line speed again which is great news for our customers.

 “With the line closed for 3 days, one of which being a working Monday, I know there will be some inconvenience for anyone traveling whilst trains aren’t running and I’d like to thank all our customers for their patience whilst these much needed improvements take place.”

Once sets of points reach the end of their lives they have to be looked after with speed restrictions until they can be replaced. Trains on all four lines through the area have recently been subject to speed restrictions for that reason, and once this work is complete, trains will be able to pass through the area at 90mph, helping to keep them on time.