South Western Railway (SWR) train services on some of its routes will be severely disrupted during the Christmas period because of major engineering work in the Woking area.
Christmas and the New Year
- Services on Christmas Eve will finish earlier than usual, with the last services departing around 22:00, and Island Line services finishing before 21:00.
- On Christmas Day and Boxing Day there will be no services.
- After midnight on New Year’s Eve, a limited number of extra services will run from London Waterloo to Kingston via Richmond, Twickenham via Wimbledon, and Guildford via Woking routes.
From Monday, 23rd December to the end of Sunday, 5th January 2025.
- Engineering work will severely affect services from London Waterloo via Woking to Southampton, Basingstoke, Portsmouth (via Eastleigh), Bournemouth, and Exeter.
- Rail-replacement bus services will operate instead of trains on some routes.
From Monday, 23rd December 2024, to Friday, 3rd January 2025, a rail-replacement bus service will replace trains between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier.
From Friday, 27th December, to Thursday, 23rd January 2025, there will be changes to services in the Westbury area.
Further information about changes to South Western Railway services during the Christmas and New Year period is online at southwesternrailway.com/christmas.
Earlier this month, the Transport Secretary announced South Western Railway would be the first train operator to return to public ownership.
“Christmas is always a busy time on the railway and due to service alterations, we recommend customers check journey planners carefully before travelling. Trains will stop running earlier than usual on Christmas Eve and, as usual, there will be no trains on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We are pleased to be running a limited number of additional services in the early hours of New Year’s Day to get people home after celebrating, but please only head to the fireworks on the South Bank if you have a ticket for the event.
Steve Tyler, Performance and Planning Director at South Western Railway
Major engineering works will also take place in the Woking area which, due to their location on the main line, will significantly impact services on busy routes to destinations such as Southampton, Basingstoke, Portsmouth (via Eastleigh), Bournemouth and Exeter. We strongly advise anyone planning to travel between Monday 23 December 2024 and Sunday 5 January 2025 to check their journey carefully and allow extra time as journeys will take longer than usual. We re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
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