With the first of the May Bank Holidays rapidly approaching Network Rail and South Western Railway are reminding customers that because of scheduled engineering works, buses will be replacing trains between Basingstoke and Eastleigh and between Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Southampton, Romsey and Fareham between Saturday 4th and Monday 6th May.

Network Rail will undertake various works during the closure of the Wessex route, these include track renewing between Winchester and Micheldever in the Wallers Ash area.

Station canopies will be inspected and cleaned at both Winchester and Eastleigh, with lineside vegetation being cleared near Chandler’s Ford.

170 metres of points and crossings will be replaced at Aldershot Junction along with 1.8km of track.

The last piece of work to be undertaken is the replacing of the old timber surface of Smith’s Level Crossing, south of Wokingham.

Because of heavy usage by road vehicles it has become life expired and a new hard wearing all weather road surface is to be installed.

The replacement buses will only be replacing South Western Railway services and will operate between Basingstoke and Eastleigh on Saturday 4th and Monday 6th.

Sunday 5th will see buses replace trains between Basingstoke and Fareham via Eastleigh, Basingstoke and Southampton Central and between Southampton Central and Romsey.

Replacement buses are expected to have longer journey times than usual.

Bus Replacement Travel Guide

Over the course of the three-day bank holiday, engineering works will take place in parts of the SWR network. Below is a list of bus replacement services that will be running on the days that the lines are closed.

Passengers should check www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest info.

 Saturday 4 May to Monday 6 May

• Buses replace trains between Eastleigh and Basingstoke

Saturday 4 to Sunday 5 May

• Buses replace trains between Reading and Guildford

Sunday 5 May only

Buses replace trains between:

• Guildford and Aldershot
• Bracknell and Reading
• Eastleigh and Romsey
• Eastleigh and Fareham
• Eastleigh and Southampton Central

“Thanks to our passengers for their patience whilst we carry out essential engineering work over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. We try to carry out our works during the least disruptive times, and bank holidays is when fewer passengers travel.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes, most of our route will remain open as usual, but some services will be affected so we’re asking passengers to plan ahead and check before they travel.”

Martin Shirley, Network Rail project manager

“Ahead of the early May Bank Holiday we’re asking our customers to check before they travel. Buses will replace trains in the Aldershot, Reading, Salisbury and Winchester areas, and so some journeys will take longer than usual. We’re very grateful for our customers’ patience while our colleagues at Network Rail carry out these vital improvements.”

A spokesperson for South Western Railway