Rail services between Reading, Bracknell and Guildford will be disrupted for more than three weeks as level crossings and signalling systems are upgraded in the vicinity. Road users will also be subject to a number of diversions.

The work is scheduled to take place between Friday 26 January and Monday 19 February.

Four level crossings will be upgraded – two at Wokingham station and two on Easthampstead Road (Star Lane) – which will mean that the crossings will be temporarily closed.

The crossings at Wokingham station will be closed for the entire period, beginning at 22:00 on 26 January and reopening at 04:00 on 19 February.  Work here will see the manually controlled barriers upgraded with CCTV monitors, helping to ensure the safety of both road and rail users.

The Easthampstead Road work, which will see modernisation of the crossings thus extending their life by 30 years, will take a shorter time, closing at 22:00 on Friday 2 February and reopening at the same time as those at Wokingham.

The work, all part of railway reliability upgrades by Network Rail, will also allow engineers to complete resignalling and level crossing upgrade work between Reading, Bracknell and Guildford. This work will take place during the week of the February half-term – Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 February.

In the Wokingham area alone, engineers will install 43 new signals and, at Wokingham Junction, switches and crossings will be upgraded, routine maintenance will be undertaken and structural examinations will take place.  As a result, buses will replace South Western Railway (SWR) and Great Western Railway (GWR) trains between the above stations.  The bus replacements will be extended to Ascot and Aldershot on some weekends.  Passengers are advised to plan their journeys ahead and to check before they travel.

The temporary closure of the railway will mark the end of Network Rail‘s four-year £116m Feltham and Wokingham re-signalling programme.  Signalling equipment and level crossings controlled by Feltham Area Signalling Centre and Wokingham Signal Box have been updated and, in all, 80 miles of railway and 500 separate pieces of signalling equipment on the SWR network have been upgrade to a modern, digitised signalling system. Passengers using stations, including Feltham, Hounslow, Shepperton, Twickenham, Windsor and Eton Riverside and Wokingham, will see improved train performance, increased future capacity, fewer delays and safer level crossings.

Buses will replace SWR services on the following routes: Bracknell to Reading on Saturday 10 February, from Monday 12 to Friday 16 February and before 07:30 on Saturday 17 February.

Services from Ascot to Reading will be replaced by buses on Sunday 11 February and from 19:30 on Saturday 17 February and all day on Sunday 17 February. Trains will be replaced by buses between Aldershot and Guildford on two Sundays, 11 and 18 February and between Aldershot and Weybridge  on 11 February. GWR services from Reading to Guildford will have bus replacements between Saturday 10 and Sunday 18 February.

Tom McNamee, Network Rail’s Wessex route infrastructure director, said: “These works are critical to us being able to deliver a safe, modern and reliable service for customers travelling on our network between Reading, Bracknell and Guildford. There’s never a good time to close the railway and we know that level crossing closures in Wokingham will be disruptive to local road users. However, delivering the bulk of these works during the half term break, when fewer people travel by rail and the schools are closed, helps us minimise the disruption to our customers who rely on this important stretch of railway.

“We’re grateful to customers and local residents living alongside the railway for their patience and understanding while we continue upgrading the railway.”

A spokesperson for South Western Railway added: “We would like to remind customers to check before travelling ahead of these vital improvements, as buses will replace our train services between Reading, Bracknell and Ascot at differing times between Saturday 10 and Sunday 18 February.

“Customers heading to Twickenham for the England v Wales rugby fixture on Saturday 10 February should also plan ahead.  We’re very grateful for our customers’ patience as this work is carried out.”

Andrew Gallaugher, Great Western Railway station manager for the North Downs line, said: “As we continue to invest in the railway, this work is really important to ensure we can maintain and improve resilience.  Buses will replace trains between Reading and Guildford between Saturday 10 and Sunday 18 February. Journeys will take slightly longer and we urge those travelling to check their journey beforehand.Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.”