THE new year is bringing new rail misery for passengers on the Weymouth-Waterloo line.

As well as paying more to travel, South West Trains’ passengers are facing a winter and spring of rail discontent as various engineering works are planned from now until April.

On some occasions lines will be closed and buses brought in to transport travellers and at other times trains will start earlier or be diverted on other routes extending journey times.

Engineering works will also affect the Bristol line.

South West Trains (SWT), which is putting up fares by an average of 2.3 per cent from January 2, says the works by Network Rail have to be done to maintain and improve the rail network.

Much of this work is done at weekends and during holiday periods, but some work also needs to be done overnight.

Weymouth rail campaigner Andy Hutchings, who was left stranded on a freezing Dorchester South station this week after his train home was delayed for more than an hour, demanded that SWT ‘get its act together’.

He said: “Although this work has to be done to upgrade the system I sincerely hope passengers are not inconvenienced too much by this work.

“South West Trains must get its act together to ensure passengers get to their destinations as quickly as possible.”

Another local rail campaigner, Green Party parliamentary candidate for South Dorset Jane Burnet,  suggested there should be some compensation for affected passengers whose journeys will be disrupted, such as reduced fares.

She also said the engineering works needed to be better publicised as not everyone could view the SWT website.

Ms Burnet said the Weymouth-Waterloo service in general was ‘reasonable’ and she welcomed the fact there were now two trains an hour. But she said there should be a faster train to London – the quickest is just under two hours and 50 minutes.

Coach operator National Express is anticipating more business due to the rail disruption.

It says advanced coach bookings from the south coast to London for January and February are up 17 per cent year on year.

Demand for publicly owned service

SOUTH West Green MEP Molly Scott Cato has slammed ministers for their role in the rail chaos during the Christmas period.

Thousands of rail users were delayed because of overrunning engineering works and signalling problems.

Dr Scott Cato has accused ministers of failing to take responsibility for the fiasco, including Rail Minister Claire Perry.

She said: “It is time the Railways Minister and Secretary of State for Transport took responsibility for our railways. We desperately need accountability rather than the feeble asking for answers approach when things go wrong. It’s clear that our incoherent and fragmented railway structure, which seeks to serve the shareholder rather than the passenger, means no-one is taking proper responsibility. Accountability will only occur when we get serious about taking back our railways into public ownership. We now have one of the most expensive rail systems in Europe.”

  • Members of the West and South Dorset Green Party will be at Weymouth and Dorchester South stations today to support a campaign by Action for Rail calling for railways to be taken back into public ownership.

Plan ahead and prepare for hold-ups and delays

Engineering works on Weymouth-Waterloo line
Waterloo-Weymouth trains will start earlier than normal and may make additional stops or use other routes due to work to replace 12 sets of points at Wimbledon.

Work is planned for every weekend throughout January and on February 15.

Passengers travelling on later Waterloo-bound services after the 8.10pm from Weymouth between January 5 and 7 will be put on a bus between Winchester and Basingstoke. This is also the case between February 23 and 25.

The line between Poole and Weymouth will be closed on Sunday, January 11 and buses laid on.

The line between Southampton Central and Bournemouth will be closed over the weekend of February 7-8. Long distance passengers should use the fast buses between Southampton Airport Parkway and Bournemouth. A revised train service will run between Bournemouth and Weymouth.

The line between Wareham and Dorchester South will be closed on Sunday, February 15. Buses will run between Wareham and Weymouth and a shuttle train will run between Dorchester and Weymouth.

The line between Basingstoke and Eastleigh will be closed over the weekend of February 21-22. An hourly train will run between Waterloo and Weymouth, diverting via Guildford. The line between Bournemouth and Wareham will be closed over the weekend February 28-March 1 and again on the weekend March 7-8 with buses laid on and a shuttle train between Wareham and Weymouth.

The line between Wareham and Dorchester South will be closed in the evening between March 2-5.

Buses will replace trains from Wareham after the 6.35pm Waterloo-Weymouth and from Weymouth following the 8.10pm departure.

This late evening work will also take place between March 9-12, March 16-19 and between Dorchester and Weymouth from April 13-15, April 20-22 and April 27-29.

Weymouth-Waterloo trains will take longer on Sunday, March 15 and March 22 due to the line being closed at Woking. This will also be the case on March 29 and Easter Sunday, April 5 due to a line closure at Eastleigh.

The line between Dorchester and Weymouth will be closed over the weekend April 11-12, and over the weekend April 18-19 lines will be closed in the Winchester and Eastleigh areas.

Engineering work on the Weymouth-Bristol line
Buses will be replacing trains between Weymouth and Yeovil Pen Mill on Sunday, January 18 and over the weekend January 24-25.

Buses will also be laid on over the weekend April 11-12 when the line is closed between Weymouth and Dorchester West.