Disruption between Eastbourne and Hastings expected until 15:00 

Route(s) affected

Between London Victoria / Brighton and Ore, and between Brighton and Hastings, and also between Eastbourne and Ashford International

Description

A fault with the signalling system in the Bexhill area is causing disruption to journeys through this station. Trains running between Eastbourne and Hastings may be cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until 15:00.

Customer advice:

If you are travelling between Eastbourne and Hastings you can travel on your normal route, but you will need to allow at least 30 minutes to complete your journey this morning.

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

How are we changing our service?

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

• Trains that normally run between Victoria and Ore will now only run between Victoria and Eastbourne. If you require any stops between Eastbourne and Ore you will need to change onto another Southern service at Eastbourne or St Leonards Warrior Square

• Trains that normally run between Eastbourne and Ashford will continue to run but will run non stop between Eastbourne and St. Leonards Warrior Square. If you require any of the stations in between Eastbourne and St Leonards Warrior Square you will need to change onto another Southern service at Eastbourne or St Leonards Warrior Square

Some trains may terminate and restart at Hastings and not continue onto Ashford International. Please speak to station staff for more information.

Replacement buses:

Replacement buses have been sourced, so you may be able to use these to get to your destination.

These buses will operate between Hastings and Ashford International.

Where possible, schedules for these buses will be shown on our journey planners, so you can see the next services from your station. If not, they'll be under the control of local station teams.

The bus suppliers will be Starline and Big Lemon.

What if my station has no station staff?

If there are no staff, you can use the Emergency button on the station Help Point at stations run by Southern. At stations which are run by other train companies, please use the Information button on the Help Point, and the message will be passed through to the Southern team.

Planning your journey:

You can see the live departure boards.

You can view a live map of the network.

You can also view an alternative route guide.

Southern's app will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

An axle counter failure is affecting trains travelling in both directions on the route between Eastbourne and Hastings.

This part of the network uses axle counters to detect whether trains are in the area. These are electrical systems which check the passage of train wheels and monitor whether a train is on a section of track. They operate as part of the signalling system, which is designed to be "fail safe"

When an axle counter fails, the signalling system will interpret this as a train remaining in place, even though there may not be a train present at all, or the previous service may have long since left the area.

As a result, further trains cannot be automatically allowed onto the relevant section of track. Train drivers will be stopped by red signals on approach. They will then get verbal permission from the signaller so that they can proceed, and will run at a heavily-reduced speed as far as the next signal. This is so that the drivers will stop safely if they see anything ahead of them.

In some areas, the sections between signals can be several miles long, so this can result in delays building up. Even with shorter sections of track affected, there would still be a delay of at least a few minutes to each journey.

Axle counter faults can be caused by a number of different issues, including electronic faults and debris coming into contact with them. Network Rail manage the signalling system, including axle counters, and their staff will be investigating as quickly as possible.

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.