Landslip at Hook

Engineers have been steadily building a 60-metre retaining wall, made up of one hundred 12-metre long ‘sheet piles’ which are driven into the ground to stabilise the embankment and protect the railway from future landslips. As well as using 9,000 tonnes of stone in the repairs, they have been regrading the steepness of the embankment slope to reduce the risk of material falling. 

Following the landslip, it was only possible to run one train every 90 minutes between Basingstoke and Woking. A short time later, we took the unusual step of reconfiguring the track layout onto a stable section of the embankment to enable six trains an hour to run through the area.

Although this has provided an improved train service over the past few weeks whilst the embankment repairs continued, it means our engineers need to close the railway again once the embankment is repaired to reinstate the track layout to its original position.

So, what does it mean for customers and the community in Hook?

• Once the embankment repairs are completed, from the start of service on Monday 13 February, trains travelling towards Basingstoke can call at Hook again. Trains will continue to run at a reduced frequency.

• From Monday 13 February for up to two weeks, engineers will close the railway each night to restore the track layout, which means alterations to late night and early morning services.

• From Friday 24 February, all four lines will reopen, and the full timetable will be reinstated, however engineers will work hard to reopen earlier if possible.

Customers should check before they travel at National Rail Enquiries or with South Western Railway.  

We will continue to keep you updated as work progresses, both through stakeholder updates as well as on our Twitter feed, @NetworkRailWssx .

If you need any further information, do please let us know. 

Kind regards, 

Southern region stakeholder team