Wessex Route
Our Region
Our Southern region serves rail passengers and freight operators from Devon in the west, to Kent in the east. The region spans much of the south of England, covering Dorset, Hampshire, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and South London, as well as the Network Rail High Speed route which carries channel tunnel services.
We are committed to deliver a plan that centres around our passengers, putting them at the heart of everything we do and focusing on improvements which will make a difference to their journeys. As part of this commitment, we’re investing a record £1.25 billion to replace old equipment with new, more reliable technology, giving passengers better journeys with fewer delays.
Our Route
Our Wessex route covers the major commuter area of south-west London, as well as from London Waterloo to the south and south-west of England. The route is one of the busiest on the rail network, running through Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Passenger numbers to and from London have more than doubled in the last 20 years, with over half a million people using the route each day. The Wessex route also supports high levels of passenger traffic to and from other important regional centres, such as Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Guildford, and Basingstoke – in fact our route carries more than 230 million passengers each year.
Key Station
We own and manage London Waterloo station, which almost 100 million people travel to or from each year!
Our projects
Feltham and Wokingham Re-signalling Project
Between 2021 and 2024 we’re upgrading signalling equipment controlled by our Feltham Area Signalling Centre, and Wokingham Signal Box to improve reliability. These two signalling centres cover 80 miles of railway and 500 separate pieces of signalling equipment on key areas of the South Western Railway network, and currently use equipment which dates back to 1974.
As part of the re-signalling project, we’re renewing this equipment with a modern, digital equivalent which will be more reliable. Using this new equipment will bring a number of benefits such as increased capacity for trains on the network, fewer delays, enhanced safety, and lower costs.
Clapham Junction Station Upgrades
Clapham Junction is the busiest interchange in the country, and we’ve begun a multi-million-pound, multi-year programme of works to improve the station. The project aims to improve passenger experience at the station, and to reduce congestion.
As part of the project, we have added passenger Wi-Fi, upgraded the station’s passenger information screens and announcement system, refurbished all of the station’s lifts, and constructed new retail units.
We’ve also widened staircases, reducing passenger congestion, remodelled the Brighton Yard entrance, and installed new toilets and baby changing rooms.
Our Improvements
The Wessex Railway Upgrade Plan makes up a £2bn investment into our route to improve the railway infrastructure from across the South West and into London. This investment will help us replace ageing equipment with newer, more reliable technology to improve train journeys and keep passengers moving for decades to come.
As part of the plan, we’re spending £1.3bn renewing our tracks, which will improve the quality of journeys for our millions of passengers, reducing delays, and saving us maintenance costs in the future. Some of the key projects we’re working on include the Portsmouth Direct Upgrade, where we’re carrying out a large programme of work to upgrade signalling and track from Woking to Portsmouth Harbour, and London Waterloo to Clapham Junction improvements, where we’re implementing a large scale track, crossings, and signalling upgrade at the busy Nine Elms junction.
Roles on this route
No roles are available on this route at this time. Register your interest to be notified when we open new roles.