Passengers advised to plan ahead of autumn half-term rail closures on the West Coastway

Passengers in West Sussex and Hampshire are advised to plan ahead over the autumn half-term and the following three weekends, as Network Rail works to complete a multi-million pound upgrade of the lines between Barnham, Chichester and Havant.

Network Rail will be working over 9 days, from Saturday 26 October to Sunday 3 November, and the following three weekends, to lay 2.3km of new track and replace life expired equipment at Basin Road, Stockbridge Road, Brook Lane and Bosham level crossings with new, more reliable technology to improve journeys for passengers.

The work will improve the reliability of rail services on the line and the reliability of the level crossings, reducing delays for both rail passengers and motorists. Network Rail will also take the opportunity to carry out further improvement work at the affected stations when services are not running.

During the week days, from Monday 28 October to Friday 1 November 2019, buses will replace trains between Havant and Chichester and journeys will take longer than usual.

On the following weekend dates the line between Barnham and Havant will be closed, meaning buses will replace trains between those stations on each date affected.

• Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October
• Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 November
• Sunday 10 November
• Sunday 17 November
• Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December.

Throughout the work, trains to London will still run from Havant (to London Waterloo via South Western Railway) and Bognor (via Southern). During the week days, trains to London will also run from Chichester (via Southern).

Work on the level crossings will result in some diversion on local roads. More information will be available as soon as diversions are confirmed.

John Halsall, route managing director South East, said: “Over the past year we have invested well over £100 million in the south coast railway to provide passengers with more reliable journeys. That work is set to continue with this multi-million pound investment over the autumn half-term between Barnham and Havant.

“There is never a good time to close the railway, but services are significantly quieter over the half-term. Passengers will still be able to travel to London, Brighton or Portsmouth, but may need to use a replacement bus and journeys will take longer.

“Following on from the successful Three Bridges to Brighton blockade, we will work closely with our colleagues at GTR to put passengers first, ensuring people are fully aware of the impact on the journey and the alternative options available to them.”

GTR's Infrastructure Director Keith Jipps said: “We welcome the investment on this part of the route and will work with Network Rail to limit the disruption to passengers during this vital project. An alternative rail replacement bus service will be in place and we’ll ensure that passengers are kept up to date with the options available to them.”

There is more information at https://www.southernrailway.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/chichester-track-improvement

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