Starting on Saturday 19 August, Network Rail will be working on digital signalling, which will mean that three parts of the railway in Berkshire and London will close for a total of fourteen days.

The following sections of the railway will be closed:

• Staines to Virginia Water: Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 August inclusive
• Staines to Windsor & Eton Riverside: Monday 21 to Saturday 26 August inclusive
• Barnes to Virginia Water/ Windsor & Eton Riverside and Hounslow: Sunday 27 August to Friday 1 September inclusive

Buses will replace trains during the closures, and Network Rail is advising passengers to check before they travel using journey planners.

Starting a week on Saturday, engineers will work night and day for two weeks, switching on the 116 new state-of-the-art digital signals that have been installed in south west London and Berkshire. They will also finish work to upgrade seven level crossings.

The current signalling system is nearly fifty years old, and has become difficult to maintain and less reliable. Over the last four years, the Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling programme has seen Network Rail’s engineers install 116 digital signals, eleven kilometres of new cabling housed in fourteen kilometres of refurbished cable ducts, and twenty-seven new under-track cable routes.

Network Rail expects that once the new signals are switched on, journeys on the Windsor Lines – a key route for commuters in and out of London – will be more reliable and experience fewer delays.

Currently run from the Feltham Area Signalling Centre, control will transfer to purpose-built Basingstoke Rail Operating Centre, which Network Rail shares with South Western Railway.

The Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling programme will be continue until the early part of next year, which engineers will complete upgrades to signalling equipment controlled by the Feltham Area Signalling Centre and Wokingham Signal Box. Between them, these two facilities control eighty miles of railway and five hundred separate pieces of signalling equipment. The programme will also see a total of thirteen level crossings renewed or upgraded.

The following level crossings will be closed while their upgrades are completed over the next few weeks:

• Mays Road: five-day closure from 2100 Sunday 20 August to 0600 Saturday 26 August
• Datchett Road: overnight closure from 2000 Sunday 27 August to 0600 Monday 28 August and four-day closure from 2100 Monday 28 August to 2100 Friday 1 September
• Wood Lane: six-day closure from 0130 Sunday 27 August to 0600 Saturday 2 September
• Grove Park: overnight closure from 2200 Sunday 27 to 0600 Monday 28 August and overnight Monday 28 August to 0600 Tuesday 29 August
• Egham: ten-day closure from 0100 Saturday 19 to 2000 Saturday 29 August
• Thorpe Lane: overnight closure from 2200 Monday 28 to 0600 Tuesday 29 August
• Pooley Green: 2100 Tuesday 29 to 0600 Wednesday 30 August

During this time step free travel arrangements will be available at each closed level crossing.

Mark Killick, Network Rail’s Wessex route director, said: “At the end of this month we will reach a significant milestone of our wider Feltham and Wokingham resignalling programme with the switching on of the new signals on the Windsor Lines.

“Our engineers will be working tirelessly over this forthcoming 14-day period to commission the new signals, which we know will help improve reliability and reduce the likelihood of delays on this important stretch of railway.

“I’d like to say sorry in advance to any customers impacted by this work and thank them for their patience and understanding during this time.”

Peter Williams, South Western Railway’s Customer and Commercial director, said: “We strongly advise our customers to check journey planners carefully before travelling, as there are three stages to this closure involving different sections of the line, and journeys using rail replacement bus and amended train services may take longer than usual.

“I’d like to thank customers for their continued patience as Network Rail carries out this important programme of upgrades on a very busy part of our network.”