Engineering work is to commence on the Tunbridge Wells to Hastings line this October half term, to improve the reliability of the route.

This year's work, from Saturday 22 – Sunday 30 October, follows a similar week of engineering last year, and is part of an ongoing improvement programme by Network Rail. The line was built in the early 1850s and has suffered with reliability problems since it opened, notably around the earthworks which carry the line through the rolling countryside of Kent and East Sussex.

Fiona Taylor, Network Rail's route director for Kent said: "The closure of the railway for nine days is good news for passengers on the route. We’re finally able to deliver sustained investment in this railway’s civil engineering, really for the first time since it was built. When the engineers of the 1850s cut the tracks through the hills, they cut deeply and cheaply, leaving a legacy of unstable earthworks that have a history of collapse.


"We took a week last year to shore them up around Wadhurst and other locations, and we're going to be back doing more of the same work this time round, and again in April 2023.

"I'm really grateful for the understanding passengers have shown while we’ve been working on this route and I would ask them to check before they travel during the October half-term week, as rail replacement buses will be in use on the whole length of the route."

Major landslips took place on the line in Christmas 2020, and February 2014, and Network Rail has installed earth movement sensors along the route at vulnerable locations – including those being worked on this October.

Along with improvements to the earthworks on the line, there will also be new track installed inside Wadhurst Tunnel and work will also be taking place in Mountfield Tunnel, near Robertsbridge. The track here is currently set into concrete, called slab track, which needs repairing, and investigations will also be taking place to plan for additional work at a later date.