August bank holiday 2015 train travel disruption: Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Waterloo East and London Bridge among several stations closed
Hoping to travel by train this bank holiday? Think again: it looks like there will be pretty widespread disruption to rail services in London and the rest of the country between tomorrow and Monday.
Here's just how bad it's going to get.
Trains in and out of London are going to be severely disrupted as a result of the ongoing Thameslink upgrade.
That means London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street and Waterloo East stations will be closed. Southeastern services will also not serve London Bridge except for trains to and from Hastings.
Charing Cross and Cannon Street services will be diverted to either London Victoria or London Blackfriars, with some trains starting their journey at New Cross.
Buses will replace trains between New Cross and Charlton via Greenwich. If you’re travelling between Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Charlton and Lewisham you can also use London bus services.
Additional trains will run between New Cross and Tonbridge via Orpington and Sevenoaks.
Trains between London and Gravesend via Sidcup will be diverted to and from London Blackfriars. If you’re travelling to or from New Cross or St Johns, you’ll need to change trains at Lewisham.
There will be no direct services between the Woolwich, Bexleyheath or Sidcup lines. Instead you’ll need to travel via and change trains at Dartford instead.
Commuters have been advised to use London Overground between Canada Water and New Cross, the Tube and the DLR.
While London appears to be getting the brunt of the work, it's by no means the only part of the country where trains will be down.
As part of a £7.5bn modernisation of the Great Western Main Line, all lines east of Bath Spa will be closed. The line will also be closed between Trowbridge and Bath Spa and replacement bus services are being deployed.
Engineering work is taking place at Stafford, which will affect CrossCountry, London Midland and Virgin Trains. There will be no trains at the station from Saturday 29 August until Monday 31 August.
That means lines to and from Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street and Birmingham New Street will be running reduced services. It will also affect trains between London Euston and Glasgow Central/Edinburgh.
Engineering work is taking place between London Liverpool Street and Ilford and also between Gidea Park and Shenfield, with a number of line closures and a severely disrupted timetable.
TfL Rail will run a reduced service between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield throughout the weekend. Buses will also be running from Shenfield to Gidea Park and a train shuttle service will operate on the Southminster, Braintree, Sudbury, Walton and Harwich branch lines.
And there is a bus replacement service between Colchester and Ipswich/Harwich Town on Sunday and Monday because of engineering work.
It's enough to have you reaching for the Breaking Bad box-set (again).