Guildford-Petersfield railway line closes for five days

Network Rail said doing the work for five days now would avoid "months of disruptive weekend and night closures"

Passengers are being warned of delays after a rail line was closed for five days to allow for engineering work.

Buses will replace South Western Railway (SWR) services between Guildford and Petersfield from Monday until Friday.

The existing 1970s signals will be replaced with newer technology.

Network Rail said undertaking the work on five consecutive days would avoid "months of disruptive weekend and night closures".

A total of 15 different projects will be completed during the closure at multiple worksites on the Portsmouth line.

'Save money'

It will see an upgrade of signalling and tracks on the line from Woking to Portsmouth Harbour in a bid to improve "reliability, journey times and potential capacity".

Work will also include managing vegetation, installing anti-trespass fencing at Farncombe East and replacing the stones that support the track at Princes Bridge by Liss station.

Between Haslemere and Wormley, work will be taking place to stabilise the cuttings to help prevent landslides.

Stuart Meek, SWR's chief operating officer, apologised to customers for the extra time the work would add to journeys.

Mark Killick, Network Rail's Wessex route director, said the closure had been planned for months "to carefully fit the most amount of work in during the five-day closure, saving both time and taxpayers' money".

"I'd like to thank customers again for their patience... We know this work will provide a long-term benefit and cause less disruption for passengers in the future," he added.