South Western Railway (SWR) is advising passengers to plan ahead as vital engineering work in will disrupt train services for the next two weekends.
From Saturday to Sunday, January 18 to 19, and Saturday to Sunday, January 25 to 26, essential track maintenance will be carried out by Network Rail engineers.
The work, which includes replacing track, ballast, sleepers, and installing new conductor rail, is expected to cause significant changes to both long-distance and local services, including those serving Alton and Woking stations. Bus replacement services will be provided instead.
From London Waterloo to Alton, services will be diverted to start and end at Woking. On Sundays, these trains will run hourly.
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Similar changes will apply to services between Waterloo and Basingstoke, with trains also starting and finishing at Woking.
From London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids, some services will be revised and diverted, taking longer than usual. A number of journeys will start and end at Basingstoke.
The London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour, via Guildford, route will be subject to diversion, with some services starting and ending at Woking.
Travelling times for many long-distance services will be extended by about 30 minutes. Customers are advised to allow extra time to complete their journeys, particularly for those travelling between London Waterloo and destinations like Alton, Woking, and Exeter.
Peter Williams, South Western Railway’s customer and commercial director, said: “Customers should plan ahead if they intend to travel on these weekends in January, as engineers carry out vital maintenance at one of the busiest parts of our network.
“There will be a large number of service changes, with rail replacement buses operating on our suburban routes, and with long-distance services revised and diverted. Diverted services will take around 30 minutes longer than usual, so customers should allow extra time when travelling.
“We are very sorry for the disruption and are very grateful for our customers’ patience.”
Mark Goodall, Network Rail’s Wessex Route director, said: There’s never a good time to close the railway, and I’m sorry we are impacting passengers in the Wimbledon area over consecutive weekends.
“We’ve worked hard to find the least disruptive window to deliver these essential engineering works. However, completing the upgrades back-to-back is the most efficient and cost-effective option for the taxpayer.”
Passengers are encouraged to plan their journeys in advance and check for the latest updates at southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey or nationalrail.co.uk.
In December, it was announced South Western Railway would be the first train operator nationalised under the Labour Government’s plans for the country’s transport network.