NETWORK Rail is urging passengers to consider travelling at different times of day or to consider working from home during a major upgrade at London Waterloo in August.

From August 5-28, platforms no. one to 10 will close while engineers extend platforms at the UK’s busiest railway station. It will enable longer trains to run, providing more space and more comfortable journeys for passengers, who are being warned to expect disruption to journeys.

Network Rail route managing director Becky Lumlock said: “The £800m upgrade is the largest investment for decades and will increase peak time capacity into Waterloo by 30 per cent.

“That’s room for an extra 45,000 people each morning and afternoon – equivalent to more than the capacity of the O2 Arena and Oval Cricket ground combined. It will mean longer trains, more seats, more comfortable journeys for passengers and less traffic on congested roads.

“Doing major improvement work is always very disruptive.

“We know we couldn’t completely close a station which has more passengers than Heathrow airport to complete the work.

“But we do need to close platforms 1-10 for most of August – that’s half the station. There will be a much-reduced timetable and changes to services throughout the day."

While Network Rail and South West Trains have worked hard to provide as many services for passengers as possible, stations will be busier than normal and users may have to wait longer for trains as fewer services are able to run.

Passengers can find detailed information on how their journeys will be affected at www.network rail.co.uk/wswupgrade