Southern Rail, Southeastern and Thameslink train lines set to CLOSE over summer, Bank Holidays, Christmas and New Year
COMMUTERS face a summer of chaos as some of Britain's busiest railway lines are shut for EIGHT days for upgrade works.
Southeastern, Thameslink and Southern Railway passengers were warned they face yet more disruption in August and September – and again over Christmas and the New Year.
Services to and from London will be cancelled or rerouted to allow for "significant work" on the Thameslink upgrade programme and the rebuilding of London Bridge station, with works planned every bank holiday this year.
Leaflets handed to commuters today reveal the disruption will spread over a total of nine days from August 26 to September 3.
There will be no Southeastern trains at all to or from London Bridge, Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations over the eight days from Saturday August 26 to Saturday September 2. This includes the August Bank Holiday and four working days.
It means there will be fewer trains to London and those that do runs will be diverted to other stations, engineers said.
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On the weekend August 26-27 there will also be no Southeastern trains to or from Cannon Street and Blackfriars, with reduced Southern services into London Bridge.
And Southeastern trains will not run to Victoria on Sunday September 3.
The Thameslink Programme warned passengers to plan ahead, saying: "When plan A isn’t an option anymore, you’ll need a plan B."
The summer disruption thanks to the Thameslink work coincides with expected chaos on routes to Waterloo, with half of the UK's busiest station closed from August 4 to August 28.
Hundreds of services will be drastically cut because of the £800m Waterloo and South West Upgrade.
Trains that do run will be packed, and the work will have a knock-on effect on commuter services from Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and Wiltshire.
Railway bosses say passengers should avoid heading to Waterloo for the whole of August if possible – and should find another route or simply stay at home.
The warnings come after huge disruption across Britain thanks to £70m engineering works by Network Rail over the long Easter Weekend.
More disruption is expected over the bank holiday in late May, although details have not yet been released.
And the Thameslink Programme said there will be "further major changes happening at Christmas, with no trains at a number of London stations."
Closures, cancellations and delays are scheduled to last from December 23 to January 1.
Bosses said: "It might be time to start thinking of other options such as changing the time you travel, finding another route, cycling to work, or working from home. If you are organising this year’s holiday, keep these dates in mind."
Commuters on Southern Railway have already faced a year of misery because of long-running union action in a row over who closes train doors.
Next week RMT members will stage a protest at Parliament to mark the first anniversary of the bitter dispute, in the same week fresh talks are due to be held in a bid to break the deadlock.
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