ASLEF strikes: Fareham railway disruption as track set to close for emergency repair during industrial action

Network Rail and South Western Railway (SWR) are urging customers travelling between Eastleigh and Fareham to check before travelling as the line will be closed from Monday 29 January to Friday 2 February for emergency works to stabilise a cutting. 

Over the five-day period, Network Rail engineers will be working around the clock to carry out urgent landslip prevention repairs. It comes as ASLEF union members are set to strike on January 30, with an overtime ban in place on January 29 and between January 31 and February 6.

The work will involve the installation of 25m long soil steel nails which will be drilled into the slope and reinforced with concrete to support the cutting and protect the railway.

Matt Pocock, Network Rail’s Wessex route director, said: “There’s never a good time to close the railway and I’m really sorry for the short notice of this closure, but the safety of our customers and railway colleagues is our number one priority. After the recent severe weather, our teams spotted land movement which means we have to act quickly to prevent a much worse and disruptive landslip.

“I would like to thank customers and local residents for their patience and understanding over the coming week while our teams complete this urgent work to stabilise the slope as quickly and safely as possible so we can get customers moving again.”

In 2022 Network Rail engineers spent £2.28m on a project to prevent landslips in the Fareham area closing the line for 9 days. During the closure engineers worked on tackling the steepness of part of the railway cutting near Fareham Tunnel, where the line is cut deeply into the hillside. Engineers excavated 5,000 tonnes of earth from the steepest side of the cutting before building an 80-metre-long retaining wall.

The recently detected earth movement was discovered at a different part of the cutting from the 2022 works. The works completed in 2022 have not been impacted by the recent poor weather conditions, and no earth movements have been detected in that area. 

Travel information

SWR services between Eastleigh and Fareham will be replaced by buses, with the exception of Tuesday 30 January due to strike action by the ASLEF union.

Services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke will be diverted via Netley, which may lead to short notice alterations for customers travelling to London from Fleet, Farnborough Main and Woking stations.

An overtime ban by the ASLEF union on Monday 29 and from Wednesday 31 January to Tuesday 6 February may also affect services.

Stuart Meek, South Western Railway’s chief operating officer, said: “We’re sorry for the disruption that this short notice closure will cause, however our colleagues at Network Rail must close the line between Eastleigh and Fareham to carry out safety-critical work. An hourly bus service will serve Hedge End and Botley, apart from Tuesday 30 January, when ASLEF strike action will affect our network.

“To run services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke we’ll need to divert trains from Fareham to St Deny’s, where they will stop and change direction before carrying on to London Waterloo. Due to the time this will take, it’s likely that these services will have to be altered. It’s possible that these services will not call at Fleet, Farnborough Main or Woking. Customers travelling from or to these stations should check before travelling.

“We’re already expecting short notice alterations and cancellations across our network due to industrial action by the ASLEF union next week, so it’s vital that customers check before travelling on these altered services.”