“We are carrying out a huge amount of work" - A behind the scenes look at the railway upgrade work as six-day closure continues in Portsmouth

Bus replacement services are currently between Havant, Fareham and Portsmouth Harbour while Network Rail perform numerous upgrades across the five miles of track.

The News headed to Portsmouth & Southsea Railway Station on Monday, March 30 where engineers are working round the clock to replace wheel timbers on the viaduct. Each hour of the six-day track closure is being utilised.

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Jeff Rose, blockade director for South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex, said: “We are carrying out a huge amount of work in the time that we have. At Portsmouth & Southsea we are changing wheel timbers which are all life expired and we are putting in new composite timbers which have a fifty year life-span.”

Further down the track wheel timbers are also being replaced at St George’s Road near Portsmouth Harbour, while repairs to cable troughing between Farlington and Cosham and tamping work throughout the area are also underway.

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Ports Creek railway viaduct is crucial in services running smoothly into the city, but having been constructed in 1897, it is in need of maintenance.

Jeff said “At Ports Creek there is a bridge which everything has to come over and that bridge is very old. With the salt from the sea and electricity passing over it there is degradation to the steelwork so we are carrying out repairs to ensure services can continue running into Portsmouth.

“We are doing all that work in six days so there is lots of work going on.”

The work is part of the upgrade project to the Portsmouth Direct Line which includes a £120 million re-signalling scheme in Havant which is due to complete in 2028.

Find behind the scenes pictures of the works taking place below: