If you’re planning on travelling by train over the Easter weekend, make sure you don’t forget about the up and coming disruption to Network Rail and South Western Railway (SWR) services.
Passengers travelling in and around south west London area have been reminded to check their journeys before heading off for the weekend as its nationwide £118 million project will kick start over the bank holiday.
Up and down the country, up to 15,000 ‘Team Orange’ staff will be working across Easter as part of the National Rail’s five-year Railway Upgrade Plan.
The multi-billion pound investment aims to improve passenger journeys, facilities and create a more reliable infrastructure.
What refurbishment is being carried out?
Re-signalling work will be carried out throughout the bank holiday between Clapham Junction and Vauxhall to improve service reliability in the area.
Bridge strengthening and refurbishment will take place in Hammersmith Road/Rocks Lane overbridge, which spans across all four platforms at Barnes station.
In addition, £5.5 million has been invested to replace the Victorian railway bridge in Smuggler’s Way, Wandsworth with a 75-tonne structure.
The construction is planned to take place between Friday (March 30) and Monday (April 2) and is expected to impact services across the area.
How does it affect Surrey passengers?
According to Network Rail, services between Woking and Guildford will be closed all day on Easter Sunday (April 1).
A replacement bus between the two stations will run for passengers.
Trains between London Waterloo and Portsmouth via Haslemere will not call at Woking while some trains will make an extra stop at Surbiton.
Widespread disruption
- All lines between Clapham Junction and Barnes will be closed from Good Friday (March 30) to the Bank Holiday Monday (April 2).
- No trains will serve Barnes on Sunday (April 1)however replacement bus services will be in operation.
- Services between London Waterloo, Windsor and Reading will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham from March 30 – April 2.
- There may be other service alterations in place and passengers are advised to check before travelling over the Easter weekend.
(Image: PA)
Minimum disruption
Becky Lumlock, route managing director for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said: “I’d like to thank South Western Railway passengers in advance for bearing with us while we complete this important work over the Easter weekend which will see us invest millions to improve the network through our Railway Upgrade Plan.
“We understand there’s never a good time to cause disruption to services, but the extended bank holiday weekend presents a good opportunity to complete these essential pieces of work when there are fewer people travelling by road and rail, keeping disruption to a minimum.”
Alan Penlington, customer experience director for South Western Railway (SWR), added: “I’d like to thank customers in advance for their patience ahead of Network Rail’s Easter engineering works in the south west London area.
“As with any complex works of this size, there will be an impact on services but we will do all we can to ensure that journeys run as smoothly as possible.
“We are advising customers to check their journeys before travelling over the Easter weekend at www.southwesternrailway.com or National Rail Enquiries.”
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