Charing Cross and Waterloo East Closed For 22 Days — £20m Rail Works Disrupt Southeastern Services

Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations will be closed from 26 July to 16 August as Network Rail completes a major £20m engineering programme that will affect Southeastern services across central London.

No Southeastern trains will call at either central London station during the 22-day closure. Services that normally serve Charing Cross and Waterloo East will instead be diverted to London Victoria, London Cannon Street or London Blackfriars, or will terminate at London Bridge. Timetables across the Southeastern network will change, with fewer trains on some routes and altered first and last services; passengers should check before they travel.

What the works involve

The essential engineering work includes:

Engineers will make structural repairs to the Victorian-built Hungerford Bridge during the works [Getty Images]

• Relaying about 1.8km (1.1 miles) of track between Charing Cross and Waterloo East.
• Installing 16 sets of switches and crossings to replace equipment in service for 36 years.
• Rebuilding the platform ends at Charing Cross nearest Hungerford Bridge with new foundations to address subsidence and deteriorating concrete.
• Upgrading track drainage at Waterloo East to maintain track quality and a smooth ride at line speed.
• Making structural repairs to the Victorian-era Hungerford Bridge, which carries the railway over the Thames and supports two pedestrian footbridges.

Why the closure now?

Network Rail says recent faults on the route caused more than 21,000 minutes (350 hours) of delays. Completing the work in one extended closure will reduce repeated weekend disruption that would otherwise be necessary. Southeastern told BBC Radio London the summer timing was chosen because passenger numbers are around 20% lower than at other times, and doing the work in one block avoids the equivalent of roughly 60 weekends of closures.

Alternative travel and ticketing

Southeastern urges passengers to plan ahead and, where possible, to walk or cycle for short journeys. Ticket-holders can also use a range of replacement and alternative services during the closure, including:

• Jubilee line between London Bridge and Waterloo
• Circle and District lines between Victoria, Blackfriars or Cannon Street and Embankment
• Thameslink services between Elephant & Castle, London Bridge and St Pancras International
• Southern services to/from London Bridge and Victoria
• Bus routes: 24, 26, 139, 148, 188 and 453 (various central London connections)

Ticket acceptance will vary: paper train tickets will generally be accepted on the listed London buses and at most Tube and train ticket gates. However, eTickets, sTickets and Smartcards may not be universally accepted. Southeastern will deploy staff at key Tube stations to check and validate electronic tickets where possible; if validation is not available, passengers should submit a refund claim for the affected portion of their journey using the form on Southeastern's website (available from Sunday).

Both stations will reopen on Monday 17 August [Getty Images]

Practical advice

Passengers should:

• Check Southeastern’s journey planner and amended timetables before travelling.
• Confirm first and last trains for their route during the closure.
• Allow extra time for journeys and consider alternative routes or modes (Tube, Thameslink, buses, walking or cycling).
• Keep paper tickets safe if you expect to use buses or other replacement services.

Both stations are due to reopen on Monday 17 August. Additional weekend closures are planned later in the year: Charing Cross and Waterloo East will also be closed on 22–23 August and on 10–11 October.

For route-specific guidance and the latest updates, consult Southeastern and Network Rail notices and the journey planner before you travel.