Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations will shut this summer time as Southeastern carries out main observe upgrades – here is easy methods to keep away from the disruption.
Each Charing Cross and Waterloo stations are attributable to shut over the summer time (Picture: Getty)
Travellers heading to Covent Backyard and the West Finish this summer time face disruption after Southeastern trains introduced a 22-day closure of Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations for a significant engineering overhaul.
Charing Cross serves as an important gateway to central London for passengers arriving from throughout the southeast, making the closure a big inconvenience for these counting on the terminus to achieve the capital’s leisure district.
Each stations will shut between Sunday 26 July and Sunday 16 August 2026, as engineers perform pressing upgrades to the railway line working between London Bridge and Charing Cross.
The works had been triggered after a Southeastern overview discovered the road required repairs on a scale that may have meant closing it for greater than 120 days — the equal of greater than a yr’s value of weekends.
Reasonably than spreading that disruption throughout successive weekends, the choice was taken to consolidate all the things right into a single 22-day summer time closure, timed to fall throughout faculty holidays when commuter numbers are at their lowest.
What work is being carried out at Charing Cross this summer time?
In line with Time Out London, greater than 1,800 metres of observe relationship again to the early Nineties shall be ripped out and changed, with recurring faults on the ageing infrastructure having value passengers lots of of hours in delays in recent times. The improve is anticipated to have a optimistic impression on future journey occasions.
Hungerford Bridge will even bear structural repairs in the course of the closure, alongside drainage works at Waterloo East.
Southeastern mentioned a rolling programme of weekend closures would have been not solely extremely disruptive however probably catastrophic for the hospitality and leisure venues — eating places, cinemas, theatres and bars — that depend upon guests pouring into the capital’s West Finish each weekend.
Greater than 1,800 metres of observe relationship again to the early Nineties shall be ripped out (Picture: Getty)
What are the choice routes whereas Charing Cross is closed?
Providers usually working into Charing Cross shall be rerouted to Victoria, Cannon Avenue or Blackfriars, with some chopping quick at London Bridge.
One possibility is to journey the Jubilee line to Waterloo and alter onto the Northern line, although the underground walkway between the 2 at Waterloo is notoriously lengthy and may add appreciable time to a journey.
A sooner various takes round quarter-hour: stroll three minutes to Monument, catch the Circle or District line to Embankment, then observe the four-minute stroll to Charing Cross.
Scott Brightwell, Director of Operations and Security, South Jap Railway, mentioned: “We all know closing Charing Cross and Waterloo East for 22 days is a big change and we’re sorry for the disruption it would trigger.
“This isn’t a call we’ve taken frivolously. We’ve appeared lengthy and onerous at each attainable possibility and though none of them are with out impression, a single summer time closure is the least disruptive and most effective technique to perform this important work.”
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