You shall not pass: that’s the scenario facing motorists around Petersfield and Liss over the next two months as the gates are coming down on half a dozen level crossings.

Six crossings are being upgraded as part of a greater bid to update signalling and improve safety on the Farncombe to Petersfield (F2P) section of the Portsmouth to London Waterloo line.

And that will mean 24-hour road closures and buses replacing many rail services with the Liss Common crossing being the first to close this weekend.

“We’re replacing manual level crossing operations with new technology including Obstacle Detection (OD) and CCTV control,” said a spokesperson for Network Rail.

“These upgrades will result in slightly longer barrier downtimes but will significantly reduce the risk of accidents and injuries for pedestrians and drivers.”

The crossing on Forest Road will be closed from this Saturday to October 24 with traffic between Liss and Liss Forest being diverted via Greatham.

Work on the Kingsfernsden Lane and Andlers Ash crossings will begin on October 4 and 11, respectively, while it’s the last weekend of next month for the Liss, School Lane and Petersfield crossings.

The latter will only close overnight while it’s all-day for the other five, with Network Rail installing new barriers at all six points.

Sheet and Tilmore residents will be most affected as the new gates at the Kingsfernsden Lane and School Lane crossings will be down four times longer – an extra two and half minutes – after the current ones are replaced.

Waiting times will be increase by two minutes and 98 seconds, respectively, at the Liss Common and Andlers Ash crossings while there’s minimal changes at the Petersfield and Liss station points.

Rail services will also be affected with buses replacing trains between Havant and Haslemere from Saturday, October 25, to Sunday, November 2.