OREANDA-NEWS. Passengers to the south and west of London are reminded to check before they travel this August bank holiday as they are set to benefit from a wide range of improvements to the line out of Waterloo as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

During the bank holiday, when on average less than half the usual 4.5 million people per day use the railway, Network Rail will carry out a series of track and station upgrades between London Waterloo and Barnes, including:

  • Delivering another ?350,000 slice of a ?5m upgrade of the points, the equipment which allows trains to move between tracks, at Waterloo station.
  • Installing signal and communications equipment between Queenstown Road and Clapham Junction station as part of an ?800m investment across the Wessex route.
  • Renewing tracks between Wandsworth Town and Putney station.
  • Renewing the surface on platforms 2 and 3 at Wandsworth Town station.

The upgrades are designed to improve the reliability and resilience of the railway in one of the most heavily-used stretches of the country’s rail network, and the work at London Waterloo continues the major work that took place over Easter 2016 (see video).

Samantha McCarthy, finance director responsible for Network Rail’s Wessex route said, “Waterloo is Britain’s busiest station with nearly 100 million journeys each year, and the lines that serve Waterloo are some of the most densely used in the country. Hundreds of thousands of people across the south will benefit from the upgrades we’re carrying out this August, and from our Railway Upgrade Plan for a better, more reliable railway.

“While the work will cause some temporary inconvenience, we have timed our upgrades to minimise disruption as much as possible and people using the lines into Waterloo will ultimately benefit from a more resilient and more reliable railway.

“The majority of the railway will be open, but passengers should check before they travel to avoid any problems getting to their destinations.”

Arthur Pretorius, customer service director for South West Trains, added: “The majority of our services will be running during the bank holiday to help passengers enjoy the long weekend. However, there are some amends to services, particularly between Clapham Junction and Barnes while improvement works are carried out.

“If you are travelling during this time, please check your journey in advance.”

As a result of the railway upgrade works this bank holiday, there will be changes to some services:

  • Fewer trains than normal will be running between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction, and no trains will operate between Clapham Junction and Barnes.
  • Part of London Waterloo station will also be closed and trains might not leave from their usual platforms - please check displays at station.
  • All South West Trains services will use platforms 5-8 at Vauxhall and 7-11 at Clapham Junction.
  • Queenstown Road station will have no service and passengers should use other stations nearby.

Saturday and Holiday Monday service

  • Trains between London Waterloo and Reading will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham (via Kingston).
  • Trains between London Waterloo and Windsor will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham (via Wimbledon and Kingston).
  • Trains to and from Weybridge via Hounslow and Staines will start from / terminate at Barnes
  • A shuttle bus service will run between Clapham Junction and Barnes.
  • A revised train service will run between Barnes and Kingston via Twickenham, connecting with the altered Reading and Windsor services.
  • The circular train service to and from London Waterloo via Brentford and via Twickenham will not run. Passengers should use the altered train services and replacement buses.
  • Trains between Ascot and Guildford will be retimed.

Sunday service

  • Trains between London Waterloo and Reading will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham, calling at Wimbledon and Kingston.
  • An hourly train service will run between London Waterloo and Windsor and will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham, calling at all stations via Wimbledon and Kingston.
  • An hourly stopping train service will run between Barnes and Windsor via Richmond and Twickenham.
  • An hourly train service will run between Barnes and Kingston, calling at all stations via Twickenham.
  • A special train service will run to provide a circular service to and from Barnes via Twickenham and via Brentford. This service will run throughout the day.
  • Trains to and from Woking via Hounslow and Staines will start from / terminate at Barnes rather than London Waterloo.
  • A shuttle bus service for local journeys will run between Clapham Junction and Barnes.

On Sunday, the following services on other routes will be altered due to reduced platform space at London Waterloo.

  • The extra late afternoon and evening services between London Waterloo and Salisbury will not run. This does not affect the regular hourly service on this route.
  • There will be no through service between London Waterloo and Guildford via Cobham. Trains will run between Wimbledon and Guildford (morning) or Surbiton and Guildford (rest of the day).

Holiday Monday (29 August)

  • South West Trains will run the Saturday timetable on the Holiday Monday except as altered for engineering work shown above. Some other services, mostly early morning trains, may also be altered to fit in with other operators' services and you should check your train times before travelling.
About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.