Network Rail is encouraging passengers to plan ahead and check before travelling over the festive period as essential engineering work is starting in a weeks’ time on the South West Main Line will severely impact services.
On Sunday 15 December 2024 and from Monday 23 December 2024 until Sunday 5 January 2025, train services will be revised while Network Rail works to upgrade the railway at Brookwood, between Farnborough and Woking.
During this time, engineers will be completing a wide range of critical upgrades for the continued safe and reliable running of the railway, using an array of specialist equipment including 19 engineering trains, two tampers and a rail-mounted crane.
The work includes:
- Installing new switches and crossings – moveable sections of track and the equipment that guide trains from one track to another – at Pirbright Junction, where the line to Aldershot leaves the South West Main Line towards Basingstoke.
- Laying 3,000 metres of new conductor (third) rail, which powers the trains
- Installing over 100 new track panels (fixed sections of rails and sleepers) totalling approximately 2,000 metres of track
- Installing approximately 2,800 new sleepers and 9,450 tonnes of ballast (the stones that support the track)
- Laying over 5,000 metres of new electrification cabling
- Upgrading a number of track circuits and installing new heating equipment to help prevent the points – the equipment that allows trains to switch tracks – from freezing during the cold, winter months.
Engineers will also be carrying out work to strengthen embankments in the area, reducing the chance of landslips while maintenance teams will be carrying out tamping – the compacting of the stones that support the tracks – between Hook and Farnborough.
Drainage will also be improved between Brookwood and Farnborough near Basingstoke Canal, with new pipes installed into the embankments and catch-pits, to reduce the risk of flooding.
South Western Railway (SWR) services will be altered or diverted and some journey times will be significantly longer.
Rail replacement buses will operate as follows:
- Sunday 15 December – Basingstoke to Woking
- Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 December – Farnborough to Woking
- Friday 27 December to Friday 3 January – Farnborough to Woking
- Sunday 5 January:
- o Aldershot to Weybridge
- o Basingstoke to Weybridge
- o Andover to Woking
- o Winchester to Woking
- o Weybridge to Guildford
Journeys between London Waterloo and Southampton Central, Poole and Weymouth will be diverted via Guildford, taking approximately 45 minutes longer. There will be no direct services between London Waterloo, Salisbury and Exeter St Davids. Services from Ascot to Aldershot will be revised to run earlier between Camberley and Aldershot between Monday 16 December and Saturday 21 December.
Services between London Waterloo and Alton, Guildford and Farnham, and London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke will also be affected.
There will be no train or bus services on the SWR network on Wednesday 25 (Christmas Day) and Thursday 26 December (Boxing Day). Details of how this engineering work will affect journeys can be found at www.southwesternrailway.com/woking-christmas. Passengers are advised to plan ahead and check before you travel.
Mark Goodall, Network Rail’s Wessex route director, said: “We’re urging passengers to plan ahead and check before they travel over the festive period while we carry out these essential improvements to the railway.
“Our teams will be working around the clock to upgrade the railway for the long-term benefit of our passengers, which once complete, will mean smoother and more reliable journeys.
“We know there is never a good time to close the railway. However, the festive period presents us with an opportune time to complete more complex upgrades such as these, as fewer passengers are travelling and the railway is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
“I would like to thank passengers in advance for their patience and understanding while we complete this work.”
Peter Williams, South Western Railway’s customer and commercial director, said: “It’s important that customers plan their journeys in advance and check before they travel over the Christmas and New Year’s period.
“There will be significant changes to train services that travel between Woking, Farnborough and Basingstoke, changing as engineering work progresses. Rail replacement buses will operate, train services will be diverted or altered, and journeys will take significantly longer. We’re sorry for the disruption this will cause and are very grateful for our customers’ patience.”
Image credit: Network Rail
