Key train routes to close for rail preparation work

Rail passengers are being told to check their journeys before travelling with key rail routes closed while works take place.

No trains will run through Dartford, one of Kent's busiest rail stations, for the whole of Saturday and Sunday while preparation work can take place ahead of a nine-day closure, which begins on 14 February.

Trains to and from London will start or terminate at Slade Green, Barnehurst or Crayford, with buses in operation to and from Dartford, affecting Southeastern and Thameslink services.

The line south of Dartford, to Gravesend, will also be closed and trains will be replaced by buses on the stretch of the route.

Southeastern said that trains on the high speed route between London St Pancras and Ramsgate via Medway would terminate at Ebbsfleet International.

Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Northfleet will also have no train service, it added.

Elsewhere in the South East, Southern have warned of multiple closures on its network on Sunday.

Trains between London and Gatwick/Brighton will be altered until 07:00 GMT, with the Gatwick Express starting later than usual.

In Sussex, trains will be replaced by buses on the routes between Horsham and Barnham, and between Hastings and Eastbourne/Polegate.

Buses will also replace trains on the route between Sutton and Dorking, in Surrey, it added.

Passengers are also being reminded that the line between Horsham and Dorking will be closed until 16 February, due to a landslip near Ockley.

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