Medway railway stations closed over Easter holiday and A2 shut at Bean and Bluewater
13:30, 24 March 2016
If you are hoping to get away this Easter holiday, make sure you check the roads and railways before you set off.
Trains will be affected across the bank holiday weekend due to engineering works and a key stretch of the A2 will be shut for 34 hours.
Network Rail will replace signals and signal boxes which were installed in the 1950s with modern equipment to improve reliability.
Over the weekend they also plan to open a new platform at Rainham station while work on a platform at the new Rochester station will be completed.
Alasdair Coates, from Network Rail, said: “We are improving the railway for passengers but to do that we have to make service changes to trains over Easter.
“From new track to new signals, this work will play an important part in increasing the reliability of London and Kent’s railways.
“There’s no good time to do this work and we have to do it when the trains are quieter, such as weekends and bank holidays.
“I’d like to thank passengers in advance for their patience as we deliver our Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a better, more reliable railway for passengers.”
If you are planning on travelling from Medway to London Bridge over Easter you will have to board a replacement bus service to Maidstone first.
Between Good Friday and Easter Monday, there will be no trains between Strood and Maidstone West and a replacement bus will take passengers from Rainham, Gillingham and Chatham to Maidstone East for a fast train connection to London Victoria.
No trains will run between Gravesend and Gillingham, and the high-speed line from St Pancras International will not run between Gravesend and Faversham on Friday, Saturday or Monday.
The coastbound carriageway of the A2 will be closed between the slip roads at Bean and Bluewater from midnight on Saturday until 10am on Easter Monday for resurfacing works. Diversions will be in place
Ed French, from Highways England, said: “We know from previous years traffic flows are low on Easter Sundays, and with Bluewater closed on Sunday, we are expecting fewer vehicles than normal on the A2.”
Visit www.southeasternrailway.co.uk, www.nationalrail.co.uk, or www.trafficengland.com before you travel.
