London Overground trains will have its services impacted for multiple weekends due to work being carried out.

Network Rail will be working on the Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames between Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury stations to replace the existing 25-year-old wheel timbers.

But as a result, this will have a major impact on trains as it carries over both the Overground’s Richmond to Stratford line and the District line.

When will this impact me?

September 7 and September 8

There will be no Overground service between Richmond / Shepherd’s Bush and Gospel Oak.

A special train service operates between Willesden Junction (low level) and Stratford via Kensal Green, Queen’s Park, Kilburn High Road, South Hampstead, Camden Road and all stations.

There will also be no District line service between Richmond and Turnham Green.

September 14 and September 15

Until 1pm on the Saturday (September 14), there will be no Overground between Richmond and South Acton.

After 1pm on Saturday and all day on Sunday (September 15), there will be no Overground between Richmond and Willesden Junction.

Throughout the weekend, there will be no District line service between Earl's Court and Richmond / Ealing Broadway.

September 28 and September 29

On the Overground, there will be no service between Richmond and South Acton.

On the District line, there will be no service between Richmond and Turnham Green.

October 5 and October 6

The final set of disruptions means there will be no Overground between Richmond and South Acton.

The District line will be impacted between Richmond and Turnham Green.

What work is taking place?

Engineers will be replacing more than 570 wheel timbers, which are used to hold the rails in place.

The current ones installed are said to be in “poor condition”, which means they are more likely to cause track faults which lead to delays for passengers.

View of the Kew railway bridgeView of the Kew railway bridge (Image: Network Rail)

Other maintenance work includes improving train detection systems, replacing points which allows trains to change tracks, upgrading signals at Richmond and cutting back vegetation to reduce the likelihood of flooding at Gunnersbury.

‘Vital job’

Simon Milburn, Network Rail Anglia infrastructure director, said: “We need to replace the deteriorating wheel timbers on Kew railway bridge so that we can continue to run trains over the River Thames safely and reliably in future.

“This is a vital job that will help to keep this wonderful heritage structure operating as a key part of these busy railway lines. We will also use this closure to carry out other maintenance work to help deliver a reliable service for our customers.”