Disruption between Havant and Chichester expected until 13:00 

Route(s) affected

Between Southampton Central / Portsmouth Harbour / Portsmouth & Southsea / Chichester and Brighton, between Southampton Central and Horsham, between Portsmouth Harbour and Horsham / Three Bridges / London Victoria, and also between Chichester and Littlehampton

Description

A fault with the signalling system between Havant and Chichester means all lines are blocked. As a result, trains running between these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes.

This is expected until 13:00.

Customer advice:

Services cannot run between Havant and Chichester, due to a signalling failure near Havant. You will need to use an alternative route, or delay your travel until services are running again. Make sure you leave at least an additional 60 minutes to complete your journey.

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

The following stations will not be served by Southern until further notice:

• Fishbourne

• Bosham

• Nutbourne

• Southbourne

• Emsworth

• Warblington

• Havant

• Bedhampton

• Hilsea

• Fratton

• Portsmouth & Southsea

• Portsmouth Harbour

• Cosham

• Portchester

• Fareham

• Swanwick

• Woolston

• Southampton Central

Travelling between Portsmouth or Southampton and Brighton

Alternative South Western Railway and Great Western Railway services are available between Portsmouth and Southampton. For onwards journeys towards Brighton, please use Stagecoach route 700 between Portsmouth and Chichester.

From Chichester, a reduced Southern service continues to run.

Travelling between Portsmouth or Southampton and London

Alternative South Western Railway and Great Western Railway services are available between Portsmouth and Southampton. For onwards journeys towards London, you can use South Western Railway services towards London Waterloo. You can also use Stagecoach route 700 between Portsmouth and Chichester, from where a reduced Southern service towards Barnham continues to run. From there, you can reach Southern services towards London.

Your ticket will also be accepted on the London Underground on any reasonable route if you need to travel between London stations to continue your journey.

Ticket acceptance:

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

• Alternative Southern services between Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton and London

• Thameslink services between Brighton and London

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

• Great Western Railway services between Southampton and Portsmouth, and also between Dorking Deepdene and Redhill

• London Underground on any reasonable route including via London Waterloo for connections with South Western Railway services

Local Stagecoach bus services on the following routes:

• 500 - Between Littlehampton, Barnham and Chichester

• 700 - Between Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Chichester

• 700 - Between Chichester, Havant and Portsmouth

• 37 - Between Petersfield and Havant

• 23 - Between Havant Bus Station - Bedhampton - Cosham - Hilsea - Portsmouth Stations
  
  

• First Bus services on the following routes:

  • 1 - Between Portsmouth Stations and Fratton

  • 3 - Between Fareham - Portchester - Cosham - Hilsea - Portsmouth Station

Please note that using local buses will take longer than normal. Please allow at least an extra 30 to reach your destination.

Planning your journey:

You can use live departure boards, and a live map of the network.

You can see an alternative route guide.

You can also use Southern's app to find up-to-date information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

An axle counter failure is disrupting trains which travel from Havant to Chichester.

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.