RAIL passengers in Farnham and Alton are advised to plan their journeys as early as possible this Christmas ahead of a programme of upgrade work taking place over the festive period.

South West Trains services will begin to wind down on the evening of December 24, with Waterloo station closed by 8pm so passengers are advised to complete their journeys well in advance of this and as early as possible.

For Alton and Farnham passengers, trains to the capital will run on an amended timetable on Christmas Eve calling additionally at Bentley, while also stopping at Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames, Wimbledon and Clapham Junction.

There will also be no trains between Alton and the capital on the last Sunday before Christmas, December 18, with rail replacement buses set to take Alton line passengers to Farnborough Station to connect with London-bound rail services.

Services return on the morning of December 27 and will operate an amended service until January 3 when all lines are expected to return to a normal service. In addition, South West Trains will be operating a number of late night services over New Year’s Eve.

Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail said: “Waterloo is already the busiest station in Britain and the number of passengers using the railway is continuing to grow, so it’s essential that we make the most of opportunities such as Christmas, when passenger numbers drop by up to 50 per cent, to invest in improving the railway for passengers through our Railway Upgrade Plan.

“Over the festive period we’ll be investing £4.5 million to complete a number of improvements in and around the Waterloo area which are vital to delivering the £800 million Waterloo and South West Upgrade.

“The vast majority of the network to the south and west of London will remain open, but there will be changes to services throughout the festive period and journeys may take longer, which is why we want passengers to plan their journeys as early as possible.”

A breakdown of how passenger journeys may be affected can be found by visiting the website nation

alrail.co.uk/Christmas and following #ChristmasWorks on Twitter.