Rail services through to Portsmouth Harbour are set to return to normal as work to finish the £100 million upgrade of the signalling system in the area will be completed during the last week of October 2007 (in place of Christmas 2006).

The work represents a major overhaul of tracks and signals and will deliver big benefits to passengers as the new equipment helps to deliver a better, more reliable train service.

Although much has been accomplished with all the track work completed by February, the installation and testing of the new signalling system is yet to be completed following problems experienced with the new Siemens equipment. This is frustrating for passengers and Network Rail.

The line closures will mainly affect services in the area over five days from Wednesday 24 October up to and including Sunday 28 October.

Network Rail's Route Director David Pape said: "We have now resolved the issues which delayed this important and complex project and we are sorry for the disruption passengers have experienced over recent months. We are now looking forward to carrying out the final testing to finish the job so that passengers can receive the full benefits of this scheme."

Alternative travel arrangements are now being planned by train operators and will be released soon.

Details of the closure are as follows:
From 24 October until Sunday 28 October the line between Fratton and Portsmouth Harbour
From 9.10pm, 24 October until 12.01am, Monday 29 October this will be extended to lines between Petersfield, Chichester, Fareham, and Portsmouth Harbour
The engineering works will then be further extended on Sunday, 28 October, and lines between Haslemere, Botley and Swanwick will be closed
Lines between Haslemere and Portsmouth Harbour will also be closed overnight Thursday, 25 October and between Swanwick and Botley overnight on 26 October.