Network Rail outlines when next Island Line closure for further renewal work will take place

More work will be needed to improve the Island Line after it fully reopens in May.

Network Rail announced last month trains would be running along Ryde Pier from Friday May 2, following months of repair work, but further closures are expected towards the end of the year.

Ahead of the reopening, the entire 8.5-mile line will shut for a further six days from Shanklin to Ryde from 26 April, with buses running instead.

Wessex route renewals director George Murrell said: “We’re now on the home stretch of this work and while I know it will be disappointing, we will need to close the line for the week preceding the resumption of services to finish the final pieces of work.”

This will include testing the signalling, removing materials and temporary buffer stops on Ryde Pier, and moving cabling from one side of the track to the other at Brading.

The whole route was closed for a month last September, when new track was laid through Ryde Esplanade station, with composite sleepers that should prove more resilient to the harsh weather along the seafront.

Network Rail previously said the work would cost £19 million.

There will also be further work to complete later in the year, including replacing track between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St Johns Road.

“We haven’t agreed access dates yet, but there will be other works on the line outside the tourist season,” Murrell told RAIL. “Probably October-November. There will be rail replacement, work to signalling and some tamping work to realign the track and make it as comfortable for passengers as possible.

“We also have to replace rail and sleepers between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St Johns Road. We have gifted track to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. They are making use of our old track: it’s new to them, and they are replacing very old track to enable them to run a more reliable service.”

Mark Dunn, SWR’s general manager for Island Line, said the work would “preserve the historic pier for many years to come.”

It is already four years since passengers have seen a regular and reliable service along the whole route. Pre-covid passenger numbers were around 1.3 million a year, with the majority thought to be tourists.

The line was closed for 10 months in 2021 for complete refurbishment, including track and signalling, with platform heights raised for newer Class 484 trains. That work had been scheduled to last only three months.

SWR operates both track and trains on the island. But the pier remains the responsibility of Network Rail. The entire refurbishment of the pier was promised in a three-month closure starting in late 2022, which was later extended to nine months. During that time, less than half the planned work was completed.

The intention is to secure the Victorian structure for another 60 years. Ryde Pier is the world’s oldest pleasure pier, with construction starting in 1813. The parallel railway pier was added in 1880.

A new transport interchange was completed outside Ryde Esplanade station last August. Intended to link trains, buses, taxis and the hovercraft service to Southsea, it has seen few trains to the ferry terminal.

In contrast, in February 2025 Wightlink ran 99% of scheduled services, with 95% arriving on time: a performance level Island Line has never come close to matching.

Timeline: Island Line closures

2020-2021: Whole route closed 10 months

2022-2023: Ryde Pier closed 9 months

2024: Sept-Oct whole route closed

2024 6 Sept-2 May 2025: Ryde Pier closed 9 months

2025 26 April-2 May: whole route closed

2025: further route closure, details tbc