Those travelling between Ashford International, Maidstone East and Borough Green & Wrotham stations are being reminded of upcoming engineering work at the end of the month.

The work takes place from the 23rd to the 31st May, and passengers should plan ahead as buses will be running in place of trains for nine days.

The work will improve the reliability of the line, with numerous projects being carried out, including:

• Near Maidstone East station – installation of new netting and bolts on 1,300 yards of rock cutting to reduce rockfalls
• Maidstone East area – three miles of drainage work to reduce water damage and landslips
• Maidstone East platform 3 – installation of new points
• Between Harrietsham, Lenham and Charing – 2,286 track replacement and drainage work at Lenham

During the work, engineers will be inspecting bridges between Bearsted and Ashford, maintenance on other parts of the track, assessing earthworks, tunnels and cuttings as well as replacing the crossing at Ryarsh Lane near West Malling.

“The Ashford to Maidstone East line is an extremely busy part of our railway, but the rock cuttings here are more than 150 years old. As a result, we are seeing an increasing number of weather and ground movement related incidents which cause delays to our customers.

“We want to fix this, and we need to do the work as quickly as possible over the nine-day closure rather than during a series of disruptive weekends.

“When the line is closed we’ll take the opportunity to as much work as possible, and will be working at more on more 53 separate projects over this closure.

“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we complete these essential improvements that will help to prevent unplanned closures and delays in the years ahead.”

David Davidson, chief operating officer for the South Eastern Railway