The railway's 'orange army' carried out a number of upgrades over the festive period to provide a better train service for passengers on the south western rail network including the Weymouth-Waterloo line.

Network Rail says work to replace old switches and crossings, the movable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another, was completed at London Waterloo station. Work was also completed as part of the £4 million project to strengthen and improve the Upper Kennington Lane bridge at Vauxhall.

These upgrades have been completed as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan – a multi-billion-pound investment in the rail network which will improve passenger journeys in the months and years ahead.

Jason Bridges, chief operating officer for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said: “I’d like to say a big thank you to passengers for their patience as this work has taken place.

“With around half the number of people travelling at this time of the year, we have been able to carry out a lot of important work to improve journeys for our passengers while causing as little disruption as possible.

“I’d also like to give thanks to our fantastic ‘team orange’ engineers, who have worked incredibly hard throughout the Christmas period to complete this important work on time.”