Disruption between Barnham and Horsham / Worthing expected until 11:30 

Route(s) affected

Between Southampton Central / Portsmouth & Southsea / Chichcester / Bognor Regis and Brighton, between Portsmouth Harbour and Horsham / London Victoria, and also between Bognor Regis and Horsham / London Victoria

Description

A points failure in the Arundel area means that some lines between Barnham and Horsham / Worthing are blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

This is expected until 11:30.

Customer advice:

If you are travelling between Barnham and Worthing / Horsham you may have to change trains more times than normal. Please allow at least an additional 45 minutes to complete your journey.

Please talk to station staff, look at the information boards or check your journey planner for the most recent information.

How are Southern changing their service?

While this disruption is ongoing, Southern will be making the following changes to services:

Trains that normally run between Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour / Chichester / Havant are cancelled until further notice.

Trains that normally run between London Victoria and Bognor Reigis / Portstmouth will now split / attach in Barnham instead of Horsham.

Trains that normally run between London Victoria and Littlehampton via Worthing will now terminate at West Worthing.

There will be a reduced service on trains that normally run between Brighton and Southampton.

Can I use my ticket with another operator?

You can travel on the following services at no additional cost;

• Alternative Southern and Thameslink services via Three Bridges, and to / from London Terminals

• South Western Railway services between Portsmouth, Southampton and London Waterloo

• Gatwick Express services between Brighton, Haywards Heath, and Gatwick Airport

• London Underground between all London Terminals

• Stagecoach Buses on the following routes:

  • 500 between Littlehampton, Barnham, Chichester

  • 700 between Brighton, Hove, Portslade, Fishersgate, Southwick, Shoreham-by-Sea, Lancing (Town), East Worthing, Worthing, West Worthing, Goring-by-Sea (Town), Durrington

  • 701 between Lancing, East Worthing, Worthing, West Worthing, Goring by Sea, Durrington (Town), Angmering (Town), Littlehampton

Planning your journey:

Live departure boards can be viewed.

You can view a live map of the network.

You can also see an alternative route guide.

If you're travelling in the London area, you can plan journeys on alternative routes by using the TfL Journey Planner.

The Southern app will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A points failure has been reported, and this is preventing trains from travelling from Barnham to Arundel and Angmering.

Points are moveable sections of track which can send trains onto different routes at junctions. These are part of the signalling system, generally managed by Network Rail.

Points can stop moving correctly for a number of reasons. For example, there may be an obstruction in the moving parts, or the electronic control systems may have developed a fault.

There are various backup systems which allow signallers to try to "set" the points, and in some cases, the points may be available for trains in one of the directions they serve, but not another.

Network Rail will send their specialist Signalling & Telecoms teams to site, and they will set up a safe method of working on the track. To allow staff to access the railway, sometimes we have to stop trains completely, which can lead to trains on other routes also being held at stations or signals.

As soon as it's safe to go on the line, the staff will diagnose the fault and find any quick solutions to resolve it.

Whilst this is being done, Southern will be monitoring progress closely. At times, replacement parts may be needed, or specialist advice from suppliers, which is why some points failures take longer to resolve than others.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.