Portsmouth fans heading to EFL Trophy final face travel disruption with rail works scheduled in Havant

The Blues sealed a return to Wembley with a thrilling 3-2 win over Exeter at Fratton Park on Tuesday night.

Pompey will travel to the national stadium to defend the EFL Trophy on Sunday, April 5, having lifted it in a penalty shoot-out win over Sunderland last year.

However if fans are thinking of taking the train to the capital city for the cup final they are being warned that engineering works are planned for that day.

There is set to be major disruption to services with all lines in the Havant area set to be shut on April 5 with maintenance work due to take place.

South Western Railway have announced that there will be replacement bus services between Petersfield and Portsmouth Harbour.

Trains will then still run between London Waterloo and Petersfield. Times at stations between Haslemere and Petersfield may be altered as all trains must use platform 2 at Petersfield.

If you are thinking of using Southern services to London Victoria instead, they are also set to be disrupted on April 5 – the day of the EFL Trophy final.

Due to the closures in the Havant area, there will be replacement bus services between Chichester and Portsmouth.

Train services will run to and from Portsmouth via Fareham and Cosham.

On its website SWR advises: ‘Long distance passengers between London Waterloo, Woking and Portsmouth should use through train services via Eastleigh and Fareham to avoid the buses.

‘The additional late afternoon and evening fast services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth will run via this route.’