COMMUTERS are being advised not to travel after a landslip has caused major disruption to services between Weymouth and London Waterloo.

A large landslip in Hampshire has left one of the tracks of the main line from London to Basingstoke hanging in mid-air and one other track damaged.

Due to planned engineering works this weekend, trains between London Waterloo and Weymouth were having to take a diverted route via Haslemere which is no longer viable as a result of the landslip.

South Western Railway has told commuters not to travel as “as we can not guarantee to get you to your destination”.

Tickets dated for today, for travel between Waterloo and either Weymouth or Portsmouth, will be eligible for travel tomorrow.

The slip, on an embankment to the northeast of Hook station, has left only two tracks of the four-track railway passable by trains, with both tracks designed to be used by London-bound trains only.

Network Rail warned services were likely to be impacted tomorrow and said: “The clear guidance is to not travel from south or west of Basingstoke towards London, or from London towards the south or west of Basingstoke.”

 

Network Rail Wessex route director Mark Killick said: “This is a huge landslip and will have a massive effect on customers. The main line to Basingstoke is the spine of our railway and there will be knock-on impacts across the route.

“I can only apologise for the scale of the disruption and please ask that customers check before they travel this week, not just on the affected section, but all the way up the line to London Waterloo, where many of the trains that would use this section of railway start and finish their journeys.

“We’re still assessing the damage and it’s difficult to put a detailed timescale in place, but we know it’s going to be at least a week.

“We will need to stabilise the embankment, essentially stopping it moving, and then rebuild the railway where it has slid away. We’ll keep everyone informed of our progress and I can only say thank you to everyone for their patience and apologise again for the disruption. 

“Please look out for further updates from South Western Railway on the revised timetable, once this has been able to be confirmed.”