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Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been told to stay away from Waterloo mainline station for virtually all of August when nearly half the UK’s busiest terminal shuts down for major rebuilding.
From 5 to 28 August the station’s 275,000 a day users were advised to use a different station, travel by a different route, work from home, go on holiday or avoid the peak periods.
During this time nine of the 25 platforms will close with up to half the usual South West Trains (SWT) service cancelled on some lines.
A number of local stations serving Waterloo will be closed while others – including Clapham Junction – will be “exceptionally busy” and running “significantly fewer trains.”
It is the biggest ever single concentration of work by Network Rail (NR). Plans for the £800 million Waterloo and South West Upgrade, including faster and more frequent services including a fleet of new trains, were announced last year but the full extent of disruption for passengers was only revealed on Thursday.
Commuters arriving at Waterloo on Thursday morning were handed leaflets detailing the work and the “significant reductions in service.”
The work will have a huge knock-on effect on commuter services from Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and Wiltshire. Busy services from Basingstoke, Guildford and Reading will be hit.
SWT, which operates 1,700 services carrying 650,000 passengers a day making it the busiest commuter operator in Europe, warned the majority of its stations will have fewer services and some will have a queuing system just to get in.
The operator saidtrains and stations will be busier than usual especially during peak periods;
And some journeys will take longer.
During the August Bank Holliday – 25 to 28 August – 14 platforms will be closed adding even more delays and cancellations for those heading off or returning from holiday.
There will also be reduced and changed services on some weekends between April and October but details have yet to be finalised.
Platforms are being closed so they can be lengthened for longer trains.
The leaflets state: “During this time we will not be able to run as many services as usual.
“There will be significant reductions in services for some stations and a small number will be closed.
“The impact on your journey will vary depending on where and when you are travelling.”
It advises travelling from a different station and avoiding morning and evening peak periods.
The leaflet recommends: “If you are able to do so, you might want to consider working from home or taking a holiday during some or all of this time.”
Stations to be closed between 5 and 28 August include Queenstown Road, Earlsfield, Norbiton, Malden Manor, Tolworth, Chessington North and Chessington South.
Those remaining open but much busier than usual with far fewer trains include Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Woking, Putney, Kingston and Richmond.
Christian Roth, SWT managing director, said: “This is the biggest investment in this railway for decades and will provide a significant increase in capacity for the thousands of passengers who use this railway every day.
“There will be some short term changes and disruption for passengers, particularly during August.”
NR and SWT will hold a “road-show” explaining details of the changes with 61 events at stations and even on trains running until 15 February.