Plan ahead due to engineering works on the railways this Christmas

South Western Railway (SWR) is asking customers to plan ahead over the Christmas and New Year period due to scheduled engineering work taking place across the SWR network

Several separate sets of engineering work will affect journeys through parts of South-west London and further afield, including in Woking, Vauxhall, Earlsfield, Southampton, Guildford and Ascot, with rail replacement buses in operation on routes where the line is closed – and other routes may see a reduced train frequency.

As in previous years, there will also be an earlier close of service on Christmas Eve, no service on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and a Saturday or Sunday timetable will be operating from December 20 to January 3.

SWR has launched a webpage that covers key information for anyone using the train services over the festive period. This can be found at www.southwesternrailway.com/christmas

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is also leading to increasing numbers of staff having to isolate, so further short notice changes to services may be required.

A spokesman said: “We’re sorry for the impact this may have and urge customers to check for late notice changes at www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey”

Claire Mann, managing director at South Western Railway, said: “After a difficult 18 months, we know our customers are looking forward to Christmas and the huge range of attractions and events available on our network.

“While the majority of our network will be running as normal over Christmas and New Year, there will be some changes to our timetable.

“We’d ask our customers planning to travel over the festive period to check the webpage before they head to the station.”