Works on the train line towards London could affect passengers from Dorchester over Christmas and the New Year.

South Western Railway (SWR) is asking customers to plan ahead due to scheduled engineering work.

Several sets of engineering work will affect journeys through Woking, Vauxhall, Earlsfield, Southampton, Guildford and Ascot, with rail replacement buses on routes where the line is closed - and other routes may see a reduced train frequency.

As in previous years, there will also be an earlier close of service on Christmas Eve, no service on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and a Saturday or Sunday timetable will be operating from December 20 to January 3.

Claire Mann, managing director at SWR, said: "After a difficult 18 months, we know our customers are looking forward to Christmas and the huge range of attractions and events available on our network.

"While the majority of our network will be running as normal over Christmas and New Year, there will be some changes to our timetable. We'd ask our customers planning to travel over the festive period to check the webpage before they head to the station."

A dedicated website covers key information for anyone using the train services over the festive period.

Mark Killick, Network Rail Wessex route director, said: "Christmas is a busy time of year for us, as with fewer people travelling by train, we have the opportunity to make improvements to the railway we can't tackle during normal working weeks.

"I know it's still a pain for people who are travelling and I'd like to say thank you to them for their patience and urge them to check before they travel.

"We need to maintain and upgrade the railway to keep it running reliably and we work closely with operators to find the latest disruptive time to do that work."

The Omicron variant is also leading to increasing numbers of staff having to isolate, so further short notice changes to services may be required. Customers can check for late notice changes here.

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