Travel chaos for rail passengers from Portsmouth to London to continue into New Year

South Western Railway (SWR) engineers started carrying out the project between Farnbrough and Woking on December 23. The works near Woking, which is one of the main stopping points on the journey to London Waterloo, is impacting services to Portsmouth.

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“Major engineering work” will affect services that travel through the Woking area up until Sunday, January 5. SWR said: “Rail replacement buses will operate and some services will be diverted. Some journey times will be significantly longer than usual and so please plan ahead and allow extra time to complete your journeys.”

The London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh route will start from Basingstoke while the works are ongoing. No trains have been in service on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Friday and today as works continue.

Journeys from London to Portsmouth - via Eastleigh - will be revised on Sunday, December 29, and will start from Basingstoke. “These services will not divide at Eastleigh but will call additionally at Micheldever and Shawford all day,” SWR said. “A revised service will run between Eastleigh and Portsmouth Harbour.”

Passengers will face a similarly changed service on December 30, New Year’s Eve and New Years Day, January 2 and 3.

On January 4, the line between Basingstoke and Woking will be closed - affecting trains between London and Portsmouth via Guildford and Eastleigh. Some trains from Portsmouth to Guildford will be changed, SWR, with some terminating at the station. The London to Portsmouth via Eastleigh route will start from Basingstoke.

Further disruption is also expected on January 5, with lines closed from Woking to Guildford and Winchester, as well as Basingstoke to Andover and Weybridge to Guildford and Aldershot. More details can be found on the SWR website.