Passengers in Sussex are being reminded to plan journeys ahead as work on will see disruption on Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th of May.
The vital work will see engineers undertake signalling work between Streatham Hill and Crystal Palace and West Croydon and will see rail replacement buses replacing trains between the following:
- Streatham Hill and Crystal Palace (calling additionally at Tulse Hill)
- Streatham Hill and West Croydon via Norwood Junction
- Southern services between London Bridge and Beckenham Junction will also be affected.
The work comes as part of the large-scale London Victoria re-signalling programme, which is a four-year package of upgrades and will see 1980s track and signalling modernised across south London and into London Victoria.
After upgrade work on lines between Balham, Clapham Junction and London Victoria for platforms 9 to 19 completed earlier in May, Network Rail began work on lines between Tulse Hill, Peckham Rye and Crystal Palace. Once completed, the lines will move over to the new signalling system during the February half term in 2024.
Further work will also take place from Saturday the 27th to Sunday the 28th of May, which will see engineers replace track alongside the stabilisation of railway cutting between Oxted and East Grinstead and Oxted and Uckfield. This work will see rail replacement buses replace trains between the following stations:
- Purley and East Grinstead (via Upper Warlingham / Oxted only)
- Woldingham and East Grinstead (calling at all stations)
- Woldingham and Uckfield
- No trains will run between South Croydon and Oxted, South Croydon to East Grinstead and South Croydon to Uckfield.
Track being replaced during this work also dates back to the 1980s and is ready to be renewed. The replacement of track, carrying out earthworks alongside routine inspections will reduce the need of having to bring in speed restrictions and help with preventing disruptions to services due to landslips.
Lucy McAuliffe, Network Rail's Sussex route director, said: “I'd like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out these important upgrades over the late May bank holiday. There is never a good time to close the railway, but we have chosen to complete this work over the bank holiday weekend when passenger numbers are generally lower to help minimise disruption.”
“The work is vital in modernising the dated track because it's important that we give passengers better and more reliable journeys.”
“I encourage any passengers who are planning to travel by train over the weekend to plan ahead and check their journeys with their train operator.”
Jenny Saunders, customer services director for Southern and Gatwick Express, said: “We're very grateful to our passengers for their patience while Network Rail carry out these essential projects, which will boost reliability and maintain safety.”
“The work over the weekend and into next week affects relatively short stretches of the network, but with buses replacing trains, journeys will take longer than normal so please plan your trip and check service times before you set off.”
Some local stretches of the Southern network will also see engineers carrying out work during bank holiday Monday (29th of May) and into the following week. The work will see rail replacement buses replace trains as follows:
From Monday the 29th of May to Thursday the 1st of June:
- Buses will replace the 23:36 services from Oxted to Uckfield and the 00:14 East Croydon to Oxted services
- Buses will replace trains between Lewes and Eastbourne and between Hastings and Ashford International
From Monday the 29th of May to Friday the 2nd of June:
- Buses replace late night and early-morning services between Brighton and Worthing/Littlehampton
East Croydon resignalling and widening of the bottle neck is that still happening