Substantial railway closures in South London during the October half-term

There will be substantial closures of the railway network in South London over next month’s Half-Term period as Network Rail closes the line to carry out signalling upgrades.

The upgrades taking place between Crystal Palace, Tulse Hill and Peckham Rye are part of a £400 million programme of investment in track and signalling upgrades that Network Rail is delivering in South London.

A previous phase of signalling upgrades between East Croydon and London Victoria in 2022 saw signalling related delays cut by more than half. Network Rail says that it hopes the current phase of upgrades will deliver similar benefits for passengers.

Signalling control of the Crystal Palace, Peckham Rye and Tulse Hill areas will move from the Victoria Area Signalling Centre to the state-of-the-art Three Bridges Rail Operating Centre from November.

The switch-on of the new signalling is the culmination of three years of work. Network Rail have installed 65 new signals, new signal gantries, two new power supply points and hundreds of kilometres of signalling, telecoms and power supply cables.

Thameslink

During a seven-day closure from Saturday 26th October to Friday 1st November, Thameslink passengers travelling between Herne Hill, Wimbledon and Sutton are being advised to use London Buses or alternative National Rail, London Trams or London Underground routes.

The following stations will have no Thameslink trains for seven days between Saturday 26 October and Friday 1 November inclusive:

Tulse Hill

Streatham

Mitcham Eastfields

Mitcham Junction

Hackbridge

Carshalton

Sutton

West Sutton

Sutton Common

St Helier

Morden South

South Merton

Wimbledon Chase

Wimbledon

Haydens Road

Tooting

Southern

On Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October there will be no Southern services between Balham and London Bridge; London Victoria and West Croydon (via Crystal Palace); or London Bridge and Streatham.

There will also be no trains between London Bridge and Beckenham Junction. Replacement buses will only run between London Bridge and Streatham Common, via Peckham Rye and Tulse Hill. For all other routes, paper tickets will be accepted on local London Buses.

From Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November, no trains will run between London Bridge and Streatham nor London Bridge and Beckenham Junction. Trains which usually run between London Bridge and London Victoria, and between London Victoria and West Croydon (via Crystal Place), will only run between London Victoria and Streatham Hill. Additional trains will run between London Bridge and Sutton via West Croydon.

Replacement buses will only run between London Bridge and Streatham Common, via Peckham Rye and Tulse Hill. Paper tickets will be accepted on London Buses for all other routes.

The following stations will have no Southern trains for seven days between Saturday 26 October and Friday 1 November inclusive:

South Bermondsey

Queens Road Peckham

Peckham Rye

East Dulwich

North Dulwich

Tulse Hill

West Norwood

Gipsy Hill

Crystal Palace

Birkbeck

Beckenham Junction

London Overground

London Overground services between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction will be replaced by buses throughout the seven-day closure from Saturday 26th October to Friday 1st November.

In addition, London Overground trains between Sydenham and Crystal Palace are also suspended from Saturday 26th to Tuesday 29th October to allow the improvement works to take place. If you are travelling to and from Crystal Palace on Saturday to Tuesday, you should use local buses via any reasonable route.

From Saturday 26th to Tuesday 29th October there will be an amended service on routes between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon and New Cross. From Wednesday 30th October to Friday 1st November some Crystal Palace and New Cross services will be re-timed.

The following stations will have no London Overground train service for seven days between Saturday 26 and Friday 1 November inclusive:

Queens Road Peckham

Peckham Rye

Denmark Hill

Clapham High Street

Wandsworth Road

The following station will have no London Overground service for four days between Saturday 26th and Tuesday 29th October inclusive:

Crystal Palace

Other closures

There will also be some weekend closures in the same area before and after the October half-term closure. These are needed to allow engineers to get the new signalling system ready and then to remove redundant equipment that is no longer required.