Easter rail disruption hits Waterloo as major engineering works shut key routes

Passengers travelling over the Easter weekend are being warned of significant disruption on services between London Waterloo railway station and Clapham Junction railway station as major engineering work takes place.

From Friday 3 April through to Monday 6 April, a reduced timetable will be in operation while engineers from Network Rail and South Western Railway carry out a series of upgrades aimed at improving reliability on one of the busiest parts of the network.

Work at Waterloo will focus on renewing track used by services heading towards Reading, Weybridge via Staines, and Windsor & Eton Riverside. As a result, trains on these routes will begin and terminate at Clapham Junction instead of central London.

Services towards Woking and Basingstoke are expected to continue running, although passengers have been advised to check ahead due to additional engineering activity affecting routes in the Southampton and Honiton areas.

Engineers will also be replacing switches and crossings near platforms 20 to 24 at Waterloo, key components that enable trains to move between tracks. At the same time, structural improvements will be carried out on the railway bridge over Lambeth Road.

Further work is planned at Clapham Junction, where a scaffold crash deck will be installed beneath the footbridge serving platforms 3 to 6. This forms part of a longer-term project to upgrade the heavily used walkway while keeping trains running below.

On Friday 3, Saturday 4 and Monday 6 April, the following services will start and finish at Clapham Junction rather than Waterloo:

• London Waterloo and Weybridge via Staines

• London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside

• London Waterloo and Reading

• London Waterloo and London Waterloo via Richmond and Kingston

Passengers will be able to change at Clapham Junction for onward travel into Waterloo.

Queenstown Road (Battersea) railway station will remain closed throughout the period, with passengers advised to use alternative nearby stations.

On Sunday 5 April, disruption will be more extensive, with closures extending as far as Barnes. Services to Reading and Windsor & Eton Riverside will be diverted via Wimbledon and Twickenham, while trains on the Kingston loop will operate only between Kingston and Barnes. Replacement bus services will run between Clapham Junction and Barnes, calling at Wandsworth Town and Putney.

Services between Waterloo and Hampton Court will also be reduced to hourly operation on that day.

George Murrell 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