Getting to and from Woolwich by train will be more difficult this weekend, with no Elizabeth Line and reduced National Rail services through Woolwich Arsenal.
There will be no Elizabeth Line services between Paddington and Abbey Wood this Saturday and Sunday. Engineers have been preparing to upgrade the two-year-old line’s signalling system to improve its performance. There will also be no service between Paddington and Stratford.
National Rail services will also be affected by a combination of engineering works in Kent, meaning no trains between Gravesend and Strood, and on lines north of London. Thameslink services will be cut back to one per hour, only running between London Bridge and Gravesend.
Southeastern services will run largely as normal, although the Blackheath tunnel will be closed as ten weeks of work to renovate the Victorian structure get under way, meaning all trains through Woolwich will run via Greenwich.
There will also be early closures on the Docklands Light Railway to Woolwich Arsenal – with last trains at about 2330 on Saturday and 2230 on Sunday – as engineers test the network’s new trains.
It will also be more difficult to cross the Thames by road, with the southbound Blackwall Tunnel also closed at the weekend, severing bus route 108 in both directions. Woolwich Ferry services have recently been boosted to four boats per hour at weekends.
Last week Transport for London marked the second anniversary of the Elizabeth Line’s opening. It said that about 350 million journeys had been made since May 2022.
The line’s busiest day came on April 18 this year, with 787,000 journeys made. The busiest stations are Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street.