Disruption to Christmas/New Year Rail

We try to let Southampton residents know of any important information that comes to us.

We would like to let you know of disruption to the railways in and around Southampton over the Christmas and New Year period.

Please pass this information on to your friends, work colleagues, family and neighbours.

This is caused by works being done by Network Rail and South Western Railway. So please don't blame us! We are merely passing the information on.

More information is below and at the following link:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/planned-improvements/christmas--new-year-holiday-period

Denise Wyatt

Denise Wyatt
Leader, Southampton Independents

Railway upgrade work over the festive period – Southampton area

We are writing to you about vital upgrade work in the Southampton area over Christmas and the New Year that will affect passenger services.

Work will start early on the morning of Sunday 24 December 2017 and finish late on Monday 1 January 2018 (services will operate as usual on 2 January). There will also be two earlier dates (Sunday 10 December and Sunday 17 December) where engineering work will be taking place. Further work in January and February will also be carried out.

More than 100 engineers and track staff will be working shifts 24 hours a day to replace around 6,000 metres of cabling and around 200 metres of track. The benefits of this £8 million project include improved reliability for passengers and reduced track noise for our lineside neighbours.

This work will mean there will be no services between Southampton Airport Parkway and Southampton Central and the line between Southampton Airport Parkway and Fareham will also be closed. Detailed background information is provided below.

There will be no trains from St Denys, Swaythling or Bitterne stations. Rail replacement bus services will be in operation and there will be road diversions as two level crossings (Mount Pleasant Road and Adelaide Road) will be temporarily closed.

Passengers wishing to travel from London to Southampton Central or beyond during this period will need to change for rail replacement bus services at Southampton Airport Parkway. Work is being carried out at this time as up to 50% fewer people travel over Christmas.

Advice to passengers regarding wider Christmas engineering work on the railway network has already been published. Specific information on work at Southampton will start to be sent to passengers this week, including through on-train announcements, social media, local media and station advertising.

Network Rail has also written to its lineside neighbours regarding the work and we will be holding passenger information sessions at stations.
We are advising people to ‘check before you travel’ through National Rail Enquiries and the South Western Railway website. 

Councillor Andrew Pope

Southampton Independents Councillor Andrew Pope has also made further enquiries about Redbridge and Millbrook services. The following is the response:

"South Western Railway services will be affected at Redbridge and Millbrook stations as a result of these works.

The services from Millbrook and Redbridge stations have been re-timed and services will not run further east than Southampton. Additionally, on24 and 31 December, westbound services will only run to Poole and not to Salisbury.

Our timetables have been updated to reflect the changes in services during this time, and we are advising passengers to check before they travel."