Newington: Railway line closed for a week after landslip

A Kent railway line is due to be closed until 4 March following a landslip.

Network Rail, which found a 40m (131ft) long crack, said material had slipped about 5m (16ft) down an embankment at Newington on Friday.

Buses will replace Southeastern trains between Sittingbourne, Newington, Rainham and Gillingham, and an amended timetable will affect other services.

Engineers will be working to stabilise the embankment next week, Network Rail said.

An amended train service will operate between London Victoria and Gillingham, via Denmark Hill, London St Pancras and Rochester, Sittingbourne and Dover Priory, and Sittingbourne and Ramsgate.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The embankment will be regraded, which will involve the excavation of the slipped material before creating a new profile for the embankment.

"Steps will effectively be cut into the slope before it is backfilled with 3,000 tonnes of stone, which will help reduce the gradient and strengthen the embankment."

Bob Coulson, Network Rail's Kent route infrastructure director, said: "We're acutely aware of how critical this route is for rail passengers, and we'll be working tirelessly over this coming week to repair and stabilise the embankment as quickly as possible so we can reintroduce services."

Southeastern said it was running a "limited" bus service between Sittingbourne and Gillingham.

Southeastern's operations and safety director, Scott Brightwell, said: "Please allow additional time for your journey and we expect queuing arrangements to be in place at busy times.

"There will also be changes to our usual timetable on other routes with some services cancelled and others expected to be extremely busy."

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