The railway line between Beckenham Junction and Brixton will be closed for nine days from Saturday for engineering works.

Network Rail engineers will be working to replace almost two-and-a-half miles of track inside the Penge Tunnel between Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 31.

The £5million track replacement work will involve removing the old track, digging up the track bed and then replacing the rail and track stones using a track laying machine.

According to Network Rail, this will ensure the “continued safe and smooth running” of the railway – allowing more reliable services to run with fewer faults.

The line will be closed for nine consecutive days – and although Network Rail has acknowledged that “there is never a good time for work like this to be carried out”, they have explained that this is half the time it would take if the work was carried out over multiple weekends.

Other maintenance work is also to be carried out on the line at the same time.

Network Rail’s Kent route director Fiona Taylor has thanked passengers and local residents for their patience as she assured that this will mean less maintenance will be needed in future.

She said: “We’d like to thank passengers and residents living alongside the railway for their patience while we carry out this major track replacement at Penge tunnel.

“This will be a challenging task as the tunnel is over a mile long, but the benefits will mean less maintenance will be needed in future as the track and components will be newer, meaning fewer faults and smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers.

“We recognise this work can be disruptive to passengers and those living alongside the railway and that’s why we’ve tried to fit in other maintenance tasks within the nine-day railway closure so that it causes less disruption and is more cost effective.

“By taking a full nine days, we will significantly reduce overall disruption to passengers, as the alternative to this approach would be five weekends of closure in addition to two separate Sundays.”

This works are part of the £1.25billion South East Upgrade programme which aims to provide passengers in Kent and south east London with better journeys and fewer delays.

Scott Brightwell, operations and safety director for Southeastern said: “We don’t want people to get caught out, so our advice to our passengers during this work is to check before you travel, and to plan ahead by using the Southeastern website or National Rail Enquiries.

“There’s never a good time for work like this to be carried out but the work is crucial and it will mean better journeys in the future."

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