A £7m upgrade to the railway through Wimbledon will mean no South West Trains running through the station over seven weekends from Christmas to February.

The project will replace a dozen sets of points - which allow trains to cross between different lines - to the west of Wimbledon station and should improve reliability and punctuality for hundreds of thousands of passengers each day on one of the busiest parts of Britain's rail network.

More than 72 South West Trains per hour pass through Wimbledon at peak times and as a result, the railway around the station has a critical impact on punctuality across the network.

Work will take place over weekends from Christmas through to February, with no South West Trains able to call at, or run through, Wimbledon on those weekends and an amended timetable in place at many stations.

Thameslink services will continue to run to Wimbledon from London via Tooting during the affected weekends, however there will be no services from Wimbledon to Sutton via St Helier.

John Halsall, infrastructure director for the Network Rail-South West Alliance, said: "This vital project will significantly improve one of the most important sections of railway on our route, which will boost reliability and punctuality for passengers travelling through Wimbledon and from many other stations and locations.

"We have scheduled the work in order to minimise disruption to passengers as much as possible but if you, friends or family are travelling during these times, I strongly suggest checking travel details first.

"This work will have a significant impact on our services and we apologise for the inconvenience caused but they are a vital part of improving our network and our service to passengers."

The project, being carried out by Network Rail and its contractors Colas Rail, will also involve preparatory work on some midweek nights between November 23 and mid-December which will affect a small number of late night services.

For more information and to plan your journey during these times, visit: www.southwesttrains.co.uk/wimbledonengineering.aspx.

Improvement work at London Bridge over Christmas and throughout 2015 may also affect journeys. Find out more on ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk.

• During the following dates, there will be no South West Trains between Clapham Junction and Surbiton, or between Clapham Junction and Kingston via Wimbledon:
  December 25th – 9am Saturday December 27th
  January 3rd and 4th
  January 10th and 11th
  January 17th and 18th
  January 24th and 25th
  January 31st and February 1st
  February 15th.

On Saturdays, buses replace trains between Clapham Junction and Surbiton/Kingston & Chessington South. Buses also replace trains between Weybridge and Virginia Water as this route is the diversionary route into London Waterloo and it is not possible to run the normal (stopping) train service and the additional non-stop diverted trains without further significant service reductions.

On Sundays, buses replace trains between Clapham Junction and Surbiton / Twickenham via Kingston & Chessington South.

On Sundays until mid-afternoon, buses also replace trains between Clapham Junction and Guildford via Woking / Effingham Junction via Surbiton / Hampton Court via Surbiton.

A train service will operate all weekend from Raynes Park platform 1 to Dorking and Guildford via Epsom.

London Underground services are not affected by the work.

December 14, 2014