For one week starting this Saturday, there will be no trains between Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth due to important rail improvement schemes.

The closure will last from Saturday, 24th to Friday, 30th September, During the closure, Network Rail will renew the track between Maiden Newton and Chetnole stations, and undertake essential maintenance at Yeovil Pen Mill, Yetminster, and Dorchester West.

Rail-replacement buses will operate to stations between Yeovil Pen Mill, Dorchester West, and Weymouth, and the following train services will be affected:

• Great Western Railway (GWR) trains between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth will terminate at Yeovil Pen Mill;
• South Western Railway (SWR) trains to Yeovil Junction via Yeovil Pen Mill will terminate at Castle Cary or Westbury;

South Western Railway trains to Weymouth, Upwey, and Dorchester South will be unaffected

Customers with GWR tickets can travel on SWR services via Southampton Central.

For the latest information, visit GWR’s website at GWR.com/Wessex.

From Saturday, 1st to Tuesday, 11th October, trains in the Castle Cary area will be affected by further rail improvement work. Further information about that work is available here.

Ben Scott, GWR’s station manager for Westbury, Wiltshire and Dorset, said: “This upgrade work will help to reduce the risk of any issues developing with the track or vital structures that might affect our services on the Heart of Wessex line.

“Unfortunately, this will mean that we won’t be able to operate trains between Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth for seven days and buses will replace those trains.

“SWR will still run train services between Weymouth, Upwey and Dorchester South and they have agreed to accept GWR tickets on their trains as an alternative.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience in bearing with us during this planned engineering work by Network Rail to upgrade an important rail link.”

Mark Killick, Network Rail’s Wessex route director, said: “I’m really pleased our upgrade of the Heart of Wessex line is continuing and although we are taking a full week to do the work, it will result in much less disruption for passengers overall.

“That’s not just because doing the work this way means we’re avoiding having to close the railway over many more weekends, but because the new track will be much more reliable too.

“The old-style track isn’t good at coping with high temperatures as it expands so much in the heat and it means we have to put severe speed restrictions in place, delaying passengers.

“The new track is part of an upgrade that will allow us to continue serving passengers on this line during hot weather conditions. Further work is due for completion in February and March next year, ready for the summer.”