This summer will see major work carried out in North London on the Bakerloo line and London Overground with passengers warned of disruption to journeys during the school’s summer holiday period.

The vital work will be completed by Network Rail engineers from Sunday, the 23rd of July through to Friday, the 25th of August and will take place across a 20-mile stretch of railway and will include:

• The installation of 18,000 modern concrete sleepers replacing wooden ones which date back to the 1950s
• The upgrade of 1km of railway drainage between Harlesden and Stonebridge Park which will avert future flooding
• The replacement of 48km of cabling for signals
• Improvement work for six stations, including Watford High Street
• Station makeovers will see platform resurfacing and roof canopy maintenance
• Upgrades to the power supply for Underground and Overground trains

The Bakerloo line will see the work impact services between Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone station and the London Overground will see the work impact journeys between Euston and Watford Junction with closures taking place over four phases, as follows:

Phase 1 will take place from Sunday the 23rd to Sunday the 30th of July:

• The Bakerloo line will be closed between Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone
• The London Overground will be closed between Euston and Watford Junction

Phase 2 will take place from Monday the 31st of July to Thursday the 10th of August:

• The Bakerloo line will be closed between Stonebridge Park and Harrow & Wealdstone
• The London Overground will be closed between Willesden Junction and Watford Junction

Phase 3 will take place from Friday the 11th of August to Thursday the 17th of August:

• The Bakerloo line will be closed between Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone
• The London Overground will be closed between Euston and Watford Junction

Phase 4 will take place from Friday the 18th of August to Friday the 25th of August:

• The Bakerloo line will be fully open
• The London Overground will be closed between Willesden Junction and Watford Junction

With the work set to begin in less than a month, passengers are being advised to plan their journeys ahead using National Rail, Transport for London’s Website or by using the Transport for London Go app.

In order to complete the work as safely and efficiently as possible, the two lines will need to be closed in sections over the five-week period, which allows several extremely complex projects to be completed at one time rather than years of weekend or overnight work.

A good example of the benefits of this kind of working would for the sleeper replacements, which would usually take around seven or eight years of midweek overnight shift work to complete.

Signal cable replacement is another good example of how a five-week sectioned closure is more efficient as this work would usually take approximately 10 years to complete, and working in this way will see that reduced to the five-week period which not only saves time but also taxpayers money.

During the period of work, Transport for London passengers impacted by the upgrade work will be able to complete their travel either using alternative rail routes or via existing or temporary bus routes.

James Dean, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said:

“We know there’s never an ideal time to close the railway, so I’d like to thank passengers for their understanding in advance while we carry out these significant improvements to the Bakerloo line and London Overground.

“I appreciate that doing this essential work over consecutive weeks will be disruptive for passengers so I’d urge people to keep in mind the line between Euston and Watford will be closed and to check National Rail Enquiries and TfL for alternative public transport options in and out of the capital.”

Geoff Hobbs, Director of Public Transport service planning for TfL, said:

“We’re sorry for the disruption that Network Rail’s essential track renewal work will cause to our customers’ journeys and are working closely with them to minimise the impact. Closures of this type enable work to be carried out which will make customer journeys more reliable in future and are scheduled to take place, where possible, in school holidays when demand on our network is significantly reduced.”

“These closures will also be used to carry out improvement works at the stations that are temporarily closed. We advise our customers to use TfL’s Journey Planner or the TfL Go app to plan their journeys in advance during this period.”