A volunteer group said the public had lost confidence in transport operators because of the planned closure of an island railway line.
The 8.5-mile (13.7-kilometer) Island Line on the Isle of Wight from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin will be closed for “essential maintenance” between September 6 and October 6, according to South Western Railway, with the pier expected to remain closed until May 2025.
Phil Jelly of the Isle of Wight Bus & Rail Users’ Group said the closure was “another episode in the long-running saga of the Island Line which ends with them going downhill”.
George Murrell, head of line renewal at Network Rail, said the work was essential to ensure safe train services.
In recent years the route has been closed for several months.
In 2021, the line was closed for ten months because a complete renovation, including track and signaling technology, was necessary.
The pier then remained closed for nine months of the 2022/23 season, with less than half of the planned work completed, due to harsh winter weather.
Neil Drury of South Western Railway acknowledged that there had been “significant disruption” on the line, but that the railway had to be closed for the necessary work to be carried out.
“We have a lot of infrastructure work to do, bridge work, track work, signaling work and also some station work,” he said.
Mr Murrell said closing the pier would allow them to renew “pretty much the entire track” as well as the material that supports it.
“It’s 2,500m of brand new steel beams that we will install along the entire length of the pier to ensure the tracks are adequately supported for trains to run safely,” he said.
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