Waterloo rail disruption as major works coincide

The multimillion-pound Portsmouth Direct project will improve safety and reliability, Network Rail said

Rail passengers face major disruption next week as three engineering projects coincide.

The works will close three main routes to Waterloo during the day or at night.

On Saturday the line between Guildford and Petersfield will shut for nine days, while lines between Reading and both Bracknell and Guildford will close from Monday to Friday.

Network Rail said it would fully reopen lines affected by the landslip at Hook, Hampshire, by 24 February.

The Hook landslip took out two tracks on a major route to London

The slip on 14 January left a reduced service with only two out of four tracks passable by trains.

Network Rail's route director Mark Killick said new track would be laid at Hook from Monday until 23 February, affecting late evening and early morning services.

He said: "We've taken the difficult decision to carry out the track layout work over multiple nights.

Network Rail said the Hook line would be fully reopened by 24 February

"I recognise how important it is to provide a direct service to and from London and the south west, particularly as the Portsmouth Direct line will be closed from the 11 to 19 of February as part of a multimillion-pound upgrade that has been planned for more than two years."

The nine-day Portsmouth line closure includes track realignment, signal upgrades, footbridge replacement and other work at several locations.

Signalling work from Monday will stop Southwestern Railway (SWR) trains between Reading and Bracknell and Great Western Railway services between Reading and Guildford.

On the same days National Highways will close the southbound A3 overnight from 21:00 between Burpham and Burntcommon for resurfacing work.

Analysis

By Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

The work means considerable disruption next week.

At Hook, buses replace trains from 22:00 GMT each night to enable overnight closures as the tracks are put back into place.

They can't send trains down the Portsmouth line, because that closes tonight for nine days of engineering blockade.

And with the Reading to Waterloo line closed Monday to Friday between Reading and Bracknell, it means all the major SWR routes are either blocked or severely disrupted by infrastructure issues all next week.

I can't recall that ever happening before.