Easter Rail Works to Disrupt London Waterloo Services

Passengers travelling through London Waterloo over the Easter weekend are being advised to check before they travel as engineering work will significantly reduce services between the station and Clapham Junction.

The disruption will take place from Friday 3 April to Monday 6 April while Network Rail engineers carry out essential upgrades to track and infrastructure in and around London Waterloo. One of the main tasks will be replacing switches and crossings outside the entrance to platforms 20 to 24, equipment that allows trains to change tracks and which is heavily used by services heading towards Reading, Weybridge via Staines, and Windsor & Eton Riverside.

Because of the work, several routes that normally run into London Waterloo will instead start and terminate at Clapham Junction. On Friday 3, Saturday 4 and Monday 6 April the following services will start and finish their journeys at Clapham Junction:

• London Waterloo and Weybridge.
• London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside.
• London Waterloo and Reading.
• London Waterloo and London Waterloo via Richmond and Kingston.

Passengers travelling to London Waterloo will be able to change trains at Clapham Junction to complete their journeys.

Other routes will continue to operate from London Waterloo, including services towards Woking and Basingstoke. However, passengers are still advised to check their journeys in advance as additional engineering work is also taking place in the Eastleigh and Honiton areas over the same period.

Alongside the track replacement work, engineers will strengthen and refurbish the railway bridge over Lambeth Road. At Clapham Junction, teams will install a scaffold crash deck beneath the footbridge serving platforms 3 to 6, allowing refurbishment work to continue safely underneath while trains are running. The improvements form part of a longer-term project to upgrade the busy walkway used by thousands of passengers each day.

Further disruption will occur on Sunday 5 April when the line closure will extend as far as Barnes. Trains between London Waterloo and Reading and Windsor & Eton Riverside will be diverted via Wimbledon and Twickenham.

Services running via Richmond and Kingston will operate only between Kingston and Barnes. Rail replacement buses will run between Clapham Junction and Barnes, calling at Wandsworth Town and Putney. Services between London Waterloo and Hampton Court will not run on that day.

Queenstown Road (Battersea) station will remain closed throughout the engineering works and passengers are advised to use alternative nearby stations.

George Murrell, Route Renewals Director speaking on behalf of South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex, said:

“We are asking passengers to check before they travel as services from London Waterloo are changing over the Easter weekend. London Waterloo is one of the busiest stations in the country, switches and crossings are heavily used and need to be replaced over time. Carrying out this work will help give our passengers a more reliable railway as well as smoother journeys for years to come."

Image: Network Rail