Disruption between Elephant & Castle and Shortlands via Catford expected until 15:00 

Route(s) affected

Between Luton / West Hampstead and Orpington, and also between Welwyn Garden City / Finsbury Park / London Blackfriars and Sevenoaks

Description

A fault with the signalling system means that the line towards Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye and Catford is blocked. As a result, trains running between Elephant & Castle and Shortlands via Catford may be cancelled, delayed by up to 40 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 15:00.

Southeastern services are no longer affected.

Customer advice:

Thameslink services that run between Elephant & Castle and Shortlands via Catford will be disrupted by a points failure near Loughborough Junction. This means you will likely face some delays, cancellations and last minute alterations.

Some services are expected to be diverted via Herne Hill to Shortlands. If you require stations between Denmark Hill and Shortlands, it may be quicker to use local buses. You can use your existing ticket on London Buses at no extra cost between these stations. Buses may take longer than your usual route so please leave at least an extra 20 minutes to reach your destination.

Services that run between St Albans City and Sutton via Wimbledon or Mitcham Junction may also see some delays, cancellations or last minute alterations. Make sure to account for this when planning your journey.

Services that run between Peterborough and Horsham may be delayed, cancelled or start / restart from a different station to normal. Please allow at least an additional 20 minutes to complete your journey, and check station boards before you depart.

Please ensure to check before you travel using our online journey planners and live departure boards for the latest information.

Ticket Acceptance:

You can use your existing ticket at no additional cost on the following services:

• Alternative Thameslink services between all London stations

• London Underground services between all London terminals

• London Buses between Elephant & Castle and Sutton via Wimbledon/Mitcham Junction, and between Denmark Hill and Shortlands

• London Trams between East Croydon and Wimbledon.

• Southern Railway services between all London stations

• Southeastern services between London Charing Cross and Hayes via Catford Bridge

Please note that using an alternative route may take additional time. Ensure to leave plenty of time to reach your destination.

Planning your journey:

To help you with your journey, you can view the live departure boards and also view a live map of our 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 Thameslink app will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A track circuit failure will disrupt your journey in the Loughborough Junction area.

This part of the network uses track circuits to detect the position of trains. These are electrical systems which 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 a track circuit 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.

Track circuit faults can be caused by a number of different issues, including electronic faults or obstructions on the track. Network Rail manage the signalling system, including track circuits, 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.