Network Rail starts nine-day Hastings line closure to renew Grove Hill Tunnel slab track

Network Rail has closed the Hastings line between Tonbridge and Wadhurst for nine days from Saturday 24 October to renew worn slab track in Grove Hill Tunnel, just south of Tunbridge Wells.

The closure runs until Sunday 1 November and extends to Battle on the final day, Network Rail said. Buses are replacing trains between Tonbridge and Wadhurst throughout, while services from Tonbridge to Charing Cross, Ramsgate and Dover Priory run as normal.

Engineers will remove and replace what Network Rail's project page describes as the life-expired track slab in the tunnel and restore key railway systems. Slab track, in Network Rail's definition, uses rails fixed directly to a reinforced concrete track base, and is used in some tunnels to strengthen and stabilise the railway.

Scott Brightwell, Director of Safety and Performance at Southeastern, said: "This programme of work represents another important investment in the Hastings line, helping us to deliver a more reliable railway for passengers and freight customers across Kent and East Sussex."

Speed restrictions

The closure is also being used to remove three temporary speed restrictions: two between Crowhurst and Battle and one between Etchingham and Robertsbridge.

Network Rail said the soil beneath the track dried out and shrank over the summer, and that the restrictions were put in place as a precaution. Recent rainfall has restored enough moisture to the embankments for the track to be realigned, it said, and the extra work will be done without extending the closure.

That work was not part of the original plan. Network Rail's first announcement of the closure, on 8 September, described a nine-day closure for maintenance, renewal and inspection work but did not mention the speed restrictions. Southeastern's release of 14 October added them to the programme.

To carry out the realignment, buses will also replace trains between Wadhurst and Hastings from 10.30pm on Saturday 31 October until 7am on Sunday 1 November, and then between Tonbridge and Battle. Network Rail apologised for the late notice of those buses.

Network Rail said soil moisture across its network this summer was at its lowest since its records began in 2009. It explains that hot, dry weather shrinks the clay soil much of the railway is built on, making the track uneven so trains have to be slowed. Where it can, Network Rail restores a level ride by lifting the track and compacting the ballast, and says this tamping lasts much longer once moisture returns in autumn.

Both Network Rail and Southeastern describe summer 2026 as the hottest and driest on record. The Met Office's provisional statistics put the UK mean temperature at 16.5°C, the warmest summer on record, and record England's driest July, but say late August rain pushed summer rainfall totals away from any national records.

Other work on the line

Teams will carry out maintenance and checks of the tunnel, portals and shafts at Wadhurst Tunnel, and inspect earthworks, drainage and track near Stonegate.

At Etchingham a new uninterruptible power supply is being installed, the station canopy repaired and nearby bridges and drainage inspected. Around Robertsbridge and Mountfield, worn track components are being replaced, Mountfield Tunnel inspected and the railway surveyed for future upgrades.

Part of the station car parks at Tunbridge Wells and Frant is serving as a construction compound for the Grove Hill Tunnel renewal, reducing parking throughout the programme.

Separately, buses replace trains between Tonbridge and Redhill from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November because of emergency works in the Godstone area. Southeastern said tickets are being accepted between Hastings and Ore and Ashford International, and on its high speed services between Ashford International and London St Pancras.

Earlier tunnel work at Mountfield

Network Rail has renewed slab track in a tunnel on the Hastings line before. In April 2023 it replaced the 1970s track slab in Mountfield Tunnel during a nine-day closure, the third and final closure of a two-year programme. That slab was reinforced with four tonnes of metal bars and laid with 900 metres of specially coated track designed for tunnel environments.

Fiona Taylor, Network Rail's Kent route director, said at the time that a single extended closure "means that we avoid causing more disruption to customers by having to close the railway over a series of weekends."

Network Rail says the line was built by the Victorians in the 1850s, and that its age and in particular its geography have required regular repairs to keep it reliable. October half term has been used before: a seven-day landslip prevention closure in 2021, which included work at both ends of Wadhurst Tunnel, formed part of a five-year £117m earthworks programme, with more than £35m being spent on the Hastings line in that spending period.

The line is due to reopen in full after the closure ends on Sunday 1 November.