South Western Railway has revealed how services will operate for the rest of the week and the weekend following a major landslide at Hook which has had a substantial impact on rail services between Basingstoke and Woking with no through trains to London Waterloo from Exeter St David's, Salisbury, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Southampton Central, Winchester and Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh.
The huge landslip has left a 44-metre stretch of track hanging in mid-air and will see Network Rail carry out track and signalling changes in order to create a short-term fix which will allow greater capacity for the line. It is expected that a permanent restoration of the embankment will take a number of weeks.
Work taking place on Saturday and Sunday will mean that no trains will run between Woking and Basingstoke for the entire weekend and South Western Railway services from Exeter, Weymouth and Portsmouth Harbour (via Eastleigh) will also continue to terminate at Basingstoke.
The rail operator is trying to find and secure Rail Replacement Buses to operate between Basingstoke and Woking and is currently asking customers to only travel in the area if completely necessary this weekend as any bus capacity could be limited.
Network Rail will postpone planned work between Guildford and Portsmouth Harbour in order to deal with the landslip at Hook. As a result of the postponed work, South Western Railway will be able to operate two trains each hour between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour (via Guildford) over the weekend.
The work completed at Hook over this coming weekend will see South Western Railway able to reinstate a number of services on the line for the South Coast and West of England to London. A full repair of the embankment which will allow four lines to operate is expected to take a number of weeks. The work taking place this weekend will provide a significant increase in capacity from Monday the 23rd of January however, the rail operator will still have to run a reduced service until further notice.
Network Rail aims to have finished the weekends works in time for start-up on Monday morning however as the work process is extremely complex customers are recommended to check the most up-to-date information ahead of setting off for their journey via: www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-jouney.
South Western Railway will confirm its service pattern for the week commencing Monday the 23rd of January as soon as it is able to do so.
Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway, commented: “We are very sorry for the ongoing disruption due to the landslip at Hook on Saturday 14, which has meant a severely reduced service on one of the country's busiest railway lines.
“We know how frustrating this week has been for our customers, particularly those in the Hook, Winchfield, and Fleet areas, with trains unable to stop at these stations.
“Our colleagues at Network Rail are working around the clock and their work over the weekend means we will be able to reinstate direct services from London to Exeter and Weymouth on Monday 23, albeit with a reduced frequency.
“Until these initial works by Network Rail are completed, we must urge customers to only travel if absolutely necessary between Basingstoke and Woking. We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding.”
Mark Killick, Wessex Route Director at Network Rail, said: “I'd like to say how sorry I am for the disruption our customers are facing. We're working flat out to fix the railway as quickly and safely as possible, and this weekend's work will deliver big improvement in the number of trains that are able to run until the full repairs are completed.
“Thank you in advance to customers for their patience and to the people who live nearby while we carry out the repairs, they've been very understanding and supportive.”
