EXTRA customer service staff will be at Basingstoke train station this afternoon to help passengers affected by a revised timetable, brought in because of emergency engineering work.

The South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance has announced that a revised service is planned from 4pm until 8pm today because of a points failure at London Waterloo and a track defect at Surbiton.

The faults were discovered earlier today during ongoing infrastructure inspections, but it is not possible to repair the damage without causing widespread disruption to train services for the remainder of the day.

Both defects will be repaired overnight and there are no changes anticipated to tomorrow’s service.

Both incidents have led to line closures, resulting in a no-stopping service from London Waterloo to Woking.

West of England services that normally run from Waterloo to Salisbury will instead start from Basingstoke.

Arthur Pretorius, deputy customer services director, said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused this evening to our passengers. We’re doing everything we can to minimise the disruption they will face. By putting these plans in place we hope it will give customers the opportunity to make alternative arrangements at an early stage to minimise the impact on their journeys.”

Passengers are advised to check for alternative appropriate routes before travelling.