Many people travelling to and from Portsmouth, Hampshire, will face rail replacement buses on parts of the route during Saturday 14 to Sunday 22 February 2026 while essential upgrades are carried out on the Portsmouth Direct Line.
From Saturday 14 to Sunday 22 February 2026, Network Rail will close the line between Petersfield and Havant. During the first weekend (14–15 February) the closure extends to the coast, with the section to Portsmouth Harbour closed and rail replacement buses running — meaning no train services to Portsmouth Harbour (and Winchester services into Portsmouth will be severely curtailed) on those dates.
Replacement buses will be in operation on the closed sections, but South Western Railway has warned that journeys will take significantly longer. Some fast services to London will be diverted via an alternative route (via Eastleigh) or will terminate early, with journey times expected to increase by about 45–60 minutes.
The work is part of the £129 million Portsmouth Direct Upgrade, which aims to make the service more reliable. Engineers are replacing life-expired signalling equipment dating from the 1970s with modern digital interlocking controlled from the Basingstoke Rail Operating Centre (ROC), as well as carrying out track and drainage work to reduce future faults.
Network Rail and SWR say they chose the school half-term because passenger numbers are typically lower, allowing a concentrated nine-day window to complete a large amount of work in one go and so avoid many separate weekend closures later in the year.
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