With just over a week to go until the start of engineering works over the festive season, Network Rail is advising passengers heading via Woking that train services will be disrupted on Sunday, December 15, and between Monday, December 23, 2024, and Sunday, January 5, 2025.

The work which will take place between Farnborough and Woking will be largely concentrated in the Brookwood area.

Here, 3,000 metres of conductor rails will be replaced along with 2,000 metres track, which will arrive as pre-made panels and will be lowered into place by crane.

Trackwork will also consist of replacing points and crossings at Pirbright Junction and tamping 9,500 tons of ballast to ensure that track panels don’t move after they have been laid.

New cabling, over 5,000 metres in length, will be laid alongside the lines, as part of the signalling system and as part of frost prevention to the electric point heaters. New drainage will also be installed between Brookwood and Farnborough to reduce flooding.

While the above is being undertaken, a team will also strengthen the embankment between Hook and Farnborough following a series of landslips near this area in recent years.

During the work, 19 engineer trains, two tamping machines, and a rail crane will be used to complete the work.

All this work will disrupt train services, especially South Western Railway services to and from the southwest.

On Sunday, 15 December, buses will replace trains between Basingstoke and Woking.

Buses will also replace trains between Farnborough and Woking on Monday 23 & Tuesday 24 December and between Friday 27 December to Friday 3 January. 

On Sunday 5 January 2025, buses will replace trains on the following services:

• Aldershot to Weybridge
• Basingstoke to Weybridge
• Andover to Woking
• Winchester to Woking
• Weybridge to Guildford

On the days affected, some South Western Railway trains will still run. Trains will continue to run from London Waterloo to Southampton, Poole and Weymouth but will be diverted via Fratton and Guildford, adding 45 minutes to journey times.

This will also affect trains running between London Waterloo and Alton, Guildford and Farnham, and London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke, as an amended timetable will be put in place.

Train services between Ascot and Aldershot will be run earlier between Camberley and Aldershot from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 December.

There will be no direct services between London Waterloo, Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, and there will be no South Western Railway train services on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

Passengers are advised to plan in advance and verify travel options before travelling.

“We’re urging passengers to plan ahead and check before they travel over the festive period while we carry out these essential improvements to the railway.

Our teams will be working around the clock to upgrade the railway for the long-term benefit of our passengers, which once complete, will mean smoother and more reliable journeys.

We know there is never a good time to close the railway. However, the festive period presents us with an opportune time to complete more complex upgrades such as these, as fewer passengers are travelling and the railway is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

I would like to thank passengers in advance for their patience and understanding while we complete this work.”

Mark Goodall, Network Rail’s Wessex Route Director

Several other routes are also affected by engineering works this Christmas, including the Midland Main line, TfL services across London, 12 days of disruption around Cambridge and on some main lines heading into the capital.