Upgrade works will take place during the February half-term affecting travel across North West London.

Network Rail has confirmed that a second week-long closure of a major portion of the London Underground Bakerloo line and the entire Watford Junction-Euston London Overground route will take place from Saturday, February 11. The closure will allow engineers to complete works which were started during a week-long closure in December, all aimed at improving service reliability on the line, known as the "Watford DC line." 

 Three temporary TfL bus routes will replace trains for nine full days (Saturday, February 11 - Sunday, February 19), as no Bakerloo trains will run north of Queen's Park and there will be no Overground between Euston and Watford Junction. London Northwestern Railway (LNR) trains will continue to stop at Euston, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey and Watford Junction stations throughout the closure, with some trains making extra stops at Wembley Central too. Southern trains will be unaffected, running normally. 

 There will be fewer services running on the rest of the Bakerloo line between Elephant & Castle and Queen’s Park during the closure periods as there will be no access to one of TfL’s depots meaning fewer trains are available. Passengers are advised to check their journeys before travelling across North West London using a dedicated page on the TfL website. 

During the first week-long closure, North Wembley, South Kenton, Kenton, Headstone Lane and Carpenders Park stations saw a combination of roof repairs, canopy renovations, guttering clearance, platform resurfacing and the installation of tactile paving to improve safety for blind and partially sighted people. Looking forward to the second closure in February, aligning with half-term, the same stretch of railway will be closed for similar essential improvements to remaining stations, track and line side equipment, including 5,000 more track sleepers being replaced. 

James Dean, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said: “We’re really grateful to passengers for their patience while we closed the railway just before Christmas so we could carry out these essential projects. It enabled us to bring sections of track right into the 21st century with new equipment which is much more reliable and robust. We were also able to transform five stations making them cleaner and brighter – I hope people enjoy using them much more as a result. Next month we’ll be returning to carry out even more work to improve the Bakerloo line and London Overground for the future.”

Rory O’Neill, TfL’s general manager for London Overground, said: “We would like to thank customers for their patience while Network Rail made these vital infrastructure improvements designed to increase train reliability and customer comfort. Our goal is always to provide our customers with the safest and most reliable service possible, and these Network Rail improvements will help to ensure we can do just that.”

MyLondon