RAIL passengers are being urged to plan ahead and check before they travel this festive season as major work takes place. 

Network Rail’s Wessex route, which includes Dorset and Hampshire, will see a number of “key upgrades” taking place.

Matt Pocock, Network Rail’s Wessex route director, said: “Our passengers want and deserve a safe and reliable railway, which is why thousands of our engineers will be working during the Christmas and New Year break to complete these important upgrades for the benefit of our customers.

From Christmas Eve until Friday, December 29, engineers will be working “around the clock” to complete signal maintenance and renewal work in the Southampton area.

This means the line between Southampton Airport Parkway and Brockenhurst will be closed.

During this time replacement buses will operate between Eastleigh, Southampton Airport Parkway and Bournemouth, on Sunday 24 and from Wednesday, December 27 to Friday, December 29.

The line between St Denys and Fareham will also be shut.

Network Rail said as part of this work, over 12,000 metres of life-expired cable will be replaced with modern multicore cables which will extend the life of the signalling equipment for the next 50 years.

Mr Pocock said: “Significantly fewer people travel over Christmas, which is why we do this scale of work at this time of year. However, more than 96 per cent of the rail network will be open over the festive period but for those customers who plan to travel by train, please check with your train operator or through the National Rail enquiries website before you travel.”

A South Western Railway spokesperson, said: “With essential maintenance and improvement work taking place on parts of our network, it is important that customers check before they travel over the Christmas period.”