Lines reopened: disruption to Gatwick Express and Southern services through Clapham Junction expected until 10:00 

Route(s) affected

Gatwick Express between Brighton / Gatwick Airport and London Victoria

Southern between Balham / Bognor Regis / East Croydon / Epsom / Havant / Horsham / Littlehampton / Ore / West Croydon / Dorking and London Victoria, and also between East Croydon and Watford Junction

Description

All lines have now reopened following earlier overrunning engineering works at Clapham Junction. Trains running through this station may continue to be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 10:00.

Customer advice:

Earlier this morning, Network Rail's engineering works near Clapham Junction were not finished on time, due to an earlier equipment fault.

All lines have reopened, and operators are working to reinstate services as quickly as they can. However, this will take some time.

A number of Southern services in this area have been severely delayed, cancelled or subject to service changes. Some trains will be unable to stop at all the usual stations, and others may not complete their full journeys.

Gatwick Express services to / from London Victoria will also be disrupted.

If you are travelling now, your journey could take around 45 minutes longer than usual.

This is not an exact estimate, as it does depend on which route you are using, and how far you are travelling. It is strongly recommend you use the journey planning tools before heading to the station.

Further engineering works were also overrunning near Norwood Junction, leading to disruption between East Croydon / West Croydon and London Bridge, but that issue has also now been resolved.

Alternative journey options:

If there is an alternative route in your area, we recommend you use this, if there is a long wait until a train on your normal route.

Gatwick Express / Southern have arranged for your ticket to be accepted at no extra cost on:

• Alternative Southern or Thameslink services on any reasonable route

• London Underground on any reasonable route across London

• South Western Railway services between:

  • Dorking, Epsom, Wimbledon, Clapham Junction and London Waterloo

  • Clapham Junction, Queenstown Road Battersea and London Waterloo

  • Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo

• Great Western Railway services between Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport

• London Buses between:

  • Clapham Junction and Watford Junction

  • Epsom, Redhill, Sutton or Croydon and Central London

• London Trams between Wimbledon, Mitcham Junction, West Croydon and East Croydon

• London Northwestern Railway services between London Euston, Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford Junction

• London Overground services on:

  • The Mildmay line between Clapham Junction, Shepherds Bush and Willesden Junction

  • The Lioness Line between Euston, Willesden Junction, Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford Junction

• Southeastern services between Hastings, Tonbridge and London Bridge

• Metrobus services on the following routes:

  • 2 between Ifield and Crawley

  • 3 between the Crawley, Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport areas

  • 20 between Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport and Horley

  • 23 between Horsham, Faygate and Crawley

  • 93 between Horsham and Dorking

  • 100, 400, 420 and 460 between Gatwick Airport and Redhill

  • 200 between Horsham, Littlehaven, Faygate, the Ifield area and Gatwick Airport

  • 430 and 435 Earlswood, Redhill and around Merstham

• Compass Travel buses on Route 32 Xplorer between Earlswood, Reigate and Redhill

Using an alternative route is also likely to take longer.

Planning your journey:

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

You can also view 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.

You can also use the Gatwick Express and Southern app to find up-to-date information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Over the course of the weekend of 11 and 12 October, a major programme of engineering works was taking place to renew the track just north of Clapham Junction. During the day on Sunday, 12 October, a fault was reported with excavation equipment which was being used to prepare for this task to take place.

Although this fault was dealt with, it caused a delay to the overall schedule, and this meant that it was not possible to carry out an activity called "tamping" as quickly as possible. Tamping is used to create a stable base for the track on this part of the network, which is constructed from small pieces of granite, known as "ballast". This provides an absorbent and adjustable layer which the sleepers and rails will rest on.

Exhaustive efforts were made to resource extra staff and equipment to help the local Network Rail teams get this task completed. Additional technical crews arrived in the area from East Anglia around midnight, and with the assistance of our control room teams and response staff, operators have been able to get them to site and finish the works, but this has led to disruption to early-morning services.

We'd like to thank you for your patience. This was preferable to leaving some lines closed all day, which would have had a greater impact to Southern and Gatwick Express trains across the region.

There was also some further disruption due to cable testing works overrunning near Norwood Junction. These have led to delays and alterations on our London Bridge route, but the works have now been concluded.

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.