Stratford to Gospel Oak and Hackney Downs to Liverpool Street routes affected

TRAIN travellers are bracing themselves for further disruption over the Christmas and New Year period as engineering works bite.

The Stratford to Gospel Oak line, operated by London Overground, will close on Saturday and remain shut until January 3.

A bus replacement service will operate instead.

The line runs through Hackney Wick, Homerton, Hackney Central and Dalston Kingsland stations.

The closure will enable Transport for London to upgrade signalling on the line, so that more frequent services can be run from May next year and overcrowding eased.

Further shorter closures will take place in spring next year and passengers will have to put up with further weekend-only closures until the middle of next year.

Once the work is complete London Overground plans to run eight trains an hour during peak times and six trains an hour off peak.

The line will be shut completely on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

London Overground’s line between Dalston Junction and West Croydon will also not open on these two days but will run a weekend service over the rest of the festive period.

Engineering works will also disrupt services on National Express East Anglia trains, running out Hackney Downs and Clapton stations.

There will be no train services between Hackney Downs and Liverpool Street on December 27 and 28 and January 2.

However services to Chingford and Enfield from these stations and to Enfield from Stoke Newington and Rectory Road, will run to a Saturday service throughout the rest of the period.

The closures will allow replacement of the overhead power lines near Liverpool Street Station, some of which are half a century old.

Services will also finish early on Christmas Eve – reaching the last stop at 10pm - and be closed completely on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with the exception of the service which runs from Tottenham Hale to London Stansted.

For more information visit www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com and www.tfl.gov.uk or call London Travel Information on 0843 222 1234.