RAIL passengers planning to travel over the Easter bank holiday weekend are being reminded to check before they travel while Network Rail invests £4m in making the railway service into London Waterloo more reliable.

More than 7,000 man hours will go into completing the Waterloo upgrade over the Easter weekend when passenger numbers are expected to drop by up to 50 per cent.

Network Rail’s orange army will be working around the clock from Good Friday to Easter Sunday to replace important sections of track and install a new signalling gantry at Waterloo station, as part of the Waterloo and South West upgrade which will enable a 30 per cent increase in capacity by December 2018.

Engineers will also carry out work to the signalling equipment at Twickenham station.

From Good Friday to Easter Sunday (inclusive), fewer services will be running in and out of Waterloo station, and bus replacement services will be in operation between Barnes, Hounslow and Teddington, owing to the work at Twickenham.

Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “While there’s never a good time to close the railway, bank holiday weekends provide us with an extended period of time to get significant pieces of work done when passenger numbers drop by up to 50 per cent.

“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out our work and remind them to check their journeys in advance to see how they may be affected.”

Adam Piddington, customer service director for South West Trains, added: “These works are crucial to help improve the rail infrastructure so that we can deliver extra capacity for the increasing numbers of passengers, however this will mean significant changes to journeys over the Easter weekend.

“We would advise all our passengers to plan their journeys well ahead whilethe works are taking place and to check before they travel.”

Passengers can check online at nationalrail.co.uk.