Charing Cross reopened on 17 August and Sevenoaks trains are back to normal. It shuts again on Sunday 23 August, when they run to Cannon Street instead.

London Charing Cross and Waterloo East reopened on Monday 17 August 2026, the date Southeastern had set when it announced the work, and Sevenoaks trains are running to and from Charing Cross again on the normal timetable. The 22-day closure that began on Sunday 26 July is over. (Southeastern, Charing Cross and Waterloo East station closures)

The reopening did not slip. Checked in the early hours of 17 August, the National Rail departure board for Charing Cross showed the first train of the day leaving at 05.20 for Gravesend, the first for Sevenoaks at 05.31, and Hastings line services arriving back into Charing Cross from Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells from 05.46. (National Rail, live departures from London Charing Cross)

Timeline of the London Charing Cross closure dates affecting Sevenoaks, showing the 22 day closure now finished and the remaining closures on 23 August and 10 to 11 October 2026
Chart by Sevenoaks Online

Sunday 23 August: Sevenoaks trains go to Cannon Street

Southeastern always described the 22 days as the main event, with supporting weekend closures either side of it for preparation and follow-up work. One of those is left in August, and it is a single day: Sunday 23 August, when no trains call at Charing Cross or Waterloo East. (Southeastern, Charing Cross and Waterloo East station closures)

The replacement pattern that day is not the one people got used to in late July and August. Sevenoaks trains do not terminate at London Bridge and they do not go to Victoria. Both routes through the town run to and from London Cannon Street: the Grove Park line service, which is the Sevenoaks train via Dunton Green, Knockholt, Chelsfield and Orpington, and the Hastings line service, the main line through Sevenoaks and Hildenborough. Trains for Ramsgate and Dover Priory also start from Cannon Street, run hourly, and go via Maidstone East because of separate work on the Paddock Wood route. (National Rail, no Southeastern services at London Charing Cross or London Waterloo East on Sunday 23 August)

Cannon Street is the detail worth noting. It sits in the City, a fair walk from the West End, and it is a station many weekend travellers never normally use. Tickets are accepted on the Underground between Victoria, Charing Cross, Embankment, Waterloo, Southwark and London Bridge at no extra cost, so the last leg into the West End costs nothing beyond the walk to the Tube. (National Rail, Sunday 23 August)

The weekend of 10 and 11 October

The final booked closure is a full weekend, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October, with no trains to or from Charing Cross or Waterloo East on either day while engineers work between Charing Cross and New Cross. (National Rail, no Southeastern services at London Charing Cross or London Waterloo East on 10 and 11 October)

For Sevenoaks that weekend splits in two, and which train you pick matters more than usual:

  • Grove Park line. Trains that normally run between Charing Cross and Sevenoaks run between London Victoria and Sevenoaks instead, both days. On the Saturday, Cannon Street to Orpington trains do not run at all.
  • Hastings line. The main line trains to Hastings run to and from London Bridge, and they run non-stop between London Bridge and Tonbridge by a different route, so they will not call at Sevenoaks or Hildenborough. On the Saturday there are no London Bridge to Tunbridge Wells trains.
  • Hildenborough gets a partial replacement on the Saturday only: the Ramsgate and Dover Priory trains, diverted to Victoria, call there additionally, and at Orpington across the whole weekend.

Nine stations on the route into London are closed all weekend and served only by replacement buses, including Grove Park, Chislehurst, Elmstead Woods, Hither Green, St Johns and New Cross. Accessible buses run between Lewisham and Orpington calling at all stations, and between Greenwich and Sidcup. Ticket acceptance that weekend covers the Underground between Victoria, Charing Cross, Embankment, Waterloo, Southwark, London Bridge and Cannon Street. (National Rail, 10 and 11 October)

October is far enough out that Southeastern may still adjust the detail. The pattern above is what is published now, and the company’s own advice for these follow-up weekends is that they can differ from the main closure, so check the date again before you travel. (Southeastern, Charing Cross and Waterloo East station closures)

What the 22 days involved

For the record, between 26 July and 16 August the Grove Park line ran to and from London Bridge, with some trains diverted via Lewisham, and the last train for stations to Sevenoaks left London Bridge at 22.37 rather than Charing Cross later. Hastings line trains ran between London Bridge and Hastings, with some peak services to and from Cannon Street. On the two Sundays of 9 and 16 August, Sevenoaks trains went to London Victoria instead and ran non-stop between Victoria and Petts Wood, while Hastings line services took the long way round via East Croydon and Redhill and skipped Sevenoaks and Hildenborough altogether. (Southeastern, Charing Cross and Waterloo East station closures; National Rail, Sunday 16 August)

All of that has now ended. From 17 August the published timetable applies again, including the late evening trains from Charing Cross that the closure had pulled forward and moved across the river.

Why the station was shut

Network Rail spent £20m on the approach to Charing Cross. The work covered 1,800 metres of new track and 16 sets of switches and crossings between Charing Cross and Waterloo East, replacing equipment in use since 1990, rebuilt the country end of the Charing Cross platforms on new foundations, upgraded track drainage at Waterloo East, and made structural repairs to the 175-year-old Hungerford Bridge and the footbridge between Waterloo East and Waterloo. Southeastern said the old track had caused more than 21,000 minutes of delays. (Southeastern, Charing Cross and Waterloo East station closures)

Before your next trip

If you drive to the station, our guide to parking in Sevenoaks covers the station car parks and the council long-stay options. Only part of Sevenoaks station is step-free at the moment while the platform 1 and 2 lifts are renewed, which our update on the lift works sets out.

Now that the normal pattern is back, our full guide to Sevenoaks train times to London is the page to use: it covers the timetable, the fastest services and what a season ticket costs.

Sources

Updated 17 August 2026: rewritten on the morning Charing Cross reopened. The remaining closure dates were rechecked at source that day, and an earlier version of this page wrongly listed 22 August as a closure date; only Sunday 23 August is affected.

Image: Arrival at Sevenoaks platform 3 by DS Pugh, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.