Rail passengers are facing travel disruption this weekend with a key Southeastern line out of action.
Services between London Victoria and Kent have been scrapped as Network Rail looks to carry out what it calls “major improvement works”.
Work is taking place as part of London Victoria’s resignalling programme.
Trains between London Victoria and Ramsgate or Dover Priory via Chatham will run from Cannon Street, while stopping services that go between London Victoria and Gillingham will not take place on Saturday.
Meanwhile, trains between London Victoria and Ashford International via Maidstone East will run from Charing Cross.
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Passengers wishing to travel between Victoria and Orpington will instead need to use Blackfriars, with additional trains being offered between Blackfriars and Orpington via Denmark Hill, Lewisham and Bromley South.
Engineering works are also scheduled, with maintenance between Ashford International and Dover Priory on Sunday set to add to travel woes.
Additional works are being completed between Gravesend and Strood, with both of the affected routes implementing bus replacement services to ease the burden.
This weekend’s works form part of a larger operation, which saw the line out of action for 10 days at the end of last year and will also see disruption on January 13 and 14.
The project, scheduled to be ready by January 2025, will help improve reliability as Network Rail aims to replace old signalling dating back to the 1980s.
The improvements will see more than 1,600 metres of track being laid, using almost 1,000 tonnes of ballast and 2,600 new sleepers.
About1,000 metres of conductor rail will also be replaced, along with 14 points, with the number of ticket turnstiles at Victoria increasing from 88 to 121.
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