Check before you travel. That's the warning from Network Rail ahead of a busy bank holiday weekend of engineering work in and around Waterloo.
From Good Friday (April 14) to Easter Sunday (April 16) teams will be working to replace sections of track and install a new signalling gantry at Waterloo station, as part of the Waterloo & South West Upgrade .
Due to the work, all lines in the Twickenham area will also be closed between Friday and Sunday and replacement bus services will run in the area between Barnes, Teddington and Hounslow with trains being diverted via Brentford.
The £800m project aims to increase capacity by 30% by December 2018.
Engineers will also be carrying out work to the signalling equipment at Twickenham station.
This means that from Friday to Sunday fewer South West Trains services will be running in and out of Waterloo station, and bus replacement services will be in operation between Barnes, Hounslow and Teddington.
Network Rail is investing £4million in the railway at Waterloo over the Easter weekend, with more than 7,000 "person hours" going into completing Waterloo upgrade.
The rail company say it has timed the work over Easter as passenger numbers are due to drop by up to 50%.
Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan we’re investing £4 million in the railway at Waterloo over the Easter break.
"This work is in preparation for the Waterloo & South West Upgrade which will increase capacity at Waterloo by 30% by the end of 2018.
“While there’s never a good time to close the railway, bank holiday weekends provide us with an extended period of time to get significant pieces of work done when passenger numbers drop by up to 50%.
"I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out our work and remind them to check their journeys in advance to see how they may be affected.”
Adam Piddington, customer service director for South West Trains, said: “These works are crucial to help improve the rail infrastructure so that we can deliver extra capacity for the increasing numbers of passengers, however this will mean significant changes to journeys over the Easter weekend.
“We would advise all our passengers to plan their journeys well ahead whilst the works are taking place and to check before they travel.”
Engineering work will also be going on between London Waterloo and Queenstown Road, closing some lines between these stations.
An amended and reduced service will operate on most routes to and from London Waterloo. Trains may also be amended to start from an alternative station, have additional stops or divert via an alternative route
Passengers can check their journeys online at nationalrail.co.uk
Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.
You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.
Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .
