Dear Stakeholders,
Upcoming West of England Line Closures
We are writing to let you know about a series of line closures along the West of England line this coming November and December.
The timings and locations of the first two closures are below:
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We’d also like to highlight the fact that there are also a series of smaller line closures over a number of weekends in the coming months with buses replacing trains as follows:
Saturday 7, Sunday 8, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October: Axminster to Exeter St Davids Sunday 29 October: Gillingham to Andover until mid-morning Sunday 12 November: Andover to Woking Saturday 18 November: Yeovil Junction to Salisbury
We are investing significant amounts of money to improve journeys for our passengers along the West of England Line. Our work will boost the railway’s reliability and performance and reduce delays caused by infrastructure failures.
We’re making sure to fit as much work as we can over the upcoming 21 days of closures, including:
Stabilising the earthworks around the track and tunnels to help prevent landslips and the disruptive emergency repairs to fix them. Replacing track which means installing new rails, sleepers and ballast. Managing the trees and plants that grow alongside the railway which involves removing hazardous trees to keep trains running on time. Completing routine maintenance on other key railway infrastructure including bridges, tunnels and level crossings.
What do you need to know?
Customers should check before they travel throughout the two closures and for the weekend works. Due to a national shortage of buses, rail replacement buses may not be running as regularly as planned. The latest travel advice from SWR can be found here.
Templecombe station car park may have very restricted or no car parking available due to the need to turn replacement buses. This may apply between 24th November and 10th December and 18th November. Please check the SWR website before travelling. Customers may wish to use the car park at Gillingham station instead. Car parking availability may also be restricted at Salisbury station at various times due to the space required for turning buses and increased demand.
Please allow sufficient time to use alternative nearby local authority car parks if required. Customers may wish to use alternative station parking facilities at Grateley or Andover.
We will be working with local schools and colleges to ensure that parents and students are aware of the changes to transport arrangements on affected days.
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Past closures in the area have seen our engineers complete multiple major projects to keep the railway running reliably. In 2022 alone we:
Renewed the railway running over Perrett’s Bridge near Tisbury, replacing 1226 yards of track, installing 4500 tonnes of new ballast and 1720 concrete sleepers. Completed a £5 million project to strengthen the cutting at Honiton tunnel which saw the installation of both a 35 and 15-yard King Post Wall, as well as improving the drainage from the many natural springs in the area.
More information about our ongoing investment on the West of England line can be found here www.networkrail.co.uk/West-of-England
Over the past month a marketing campaign has been underway, with posters in stations, digital display information and updates on social media. It would be greatly appreciated if you were to share this information to make the public more aware.
If you have any questions about this scheme or require assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to get in contact.
Kind regards, Network Rail Southern Region Stakeholder Team |
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