THE last stage of resignalling work in the Portsmouth area has been scheduled. Work will take place from Wednesday, October 24, until Sunday, October 28, and full services will be restored in the Portsmouth area from Monday, October 29. Dave Pape, Network Rail's route director, said: "This is an important and complex project and we are sorry for the disruption experienced by passengers. However, completion of the final stage of the work will mean that passengers can receive the full benefits of this scheme." James Burt, South West Trains' operations director, said: "We realise that the extension of these engineering works has been massively inconvenient but this work will bring big benefits and will help towards delivering a better, more reliable train service." The last stage will be as follows: Wednesday, October 24 until 21.10 – no trains will rub between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. A frequent bus service will run between Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour stations. Most trains will have to start from Fratton earlier than normal because of limited platform space. First Great Western services will start at Fareham and some other operators will start at Havant or Haslemere. From 21.10 on Wednesday, October 24, until 0005 Sunday, Octo ber 28 – There will be no train services in the area bounded by Portsmouth Harbour, Petersfield, Fareham and Chichester. Buses will run from Portsmouth to the above areas and buses will also run between Fareham, Havant and Chichester. The lines between Haslemere and Portsmouth Harbour will be closed overnight on Thursday, October 25, and between Swanwick/Eastleigh and Portsmouth Harbour overnight on Friday October 26. From 00.05 Sunday, October 28 – the lines in the Fareham and Petersfield area will also be closed. Bus services will run from the Portsmouth area to Swanwick, Eastleigh, Haslemere and Chichester to connect with trains. First Great Western services from Cardiff and Bristol will terminate at Southampton Central and connecting buses will run between there and Portsmouth. Passengers can keep up to date with changes to services by visiting the http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk">www.southwesttrains.co.uk or by telephoning National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 to confirm the times of services before travelling.
