Disruption between Purley and East Croydon expected until 10:00 

Route(s) affected

Gatwick Express between Brighton / Gatwick Airport and London Victoria

Southern between Tattenham Corner and Purley, between Caterham and London bridge, and also between Portsmouth Harbour / Havant / Bognor Regis / Littlehampton / Horsham / Brighton / Eastbourne / Ore / Three Bridges / Reigate and London Victoria

Thameslink between Brighton and Three Bridges / Finsbury Park / Bedford, between Horsham and Peterborough, and also between Haywards Heath and Bedford

Description

Urgent repairs to the track between Purley and East Croydon means that the line is disrupted. As a result, services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Disruption is expected until 10:00.

Customer advice:

If you are travelling now, you can continue to travel using your normal route, but you may have to wait longer for a train towards your destination, or change trains more times than usual during your journey.

Please allow an extra 20 minutes longer than usual to complete your journey.

The expected service plan:

Thameslink

Trains which usually run between Bedford and Three Bridges will not run; however, trains which run between Bedford and Brighton will continue to run as usual.

Trains which run between Peterborough and Horsham will call additionally at Purley, Salfords, and Earlswood, where possible.

Gatwick Express services will not run.

Southern

Trains which run between London Victoria and Reigate will be suspended. You can use Great Western Railway services between Redhill and Reigate.

Trains which run between Victoria and Eastbourne will be suspended. Trains between London Victoria and Ore will continue to run, calling additionally at Hampden Park, Three Bridges, and Cooksbridge in both directions.

Trains which run between London Victoria and Littlehampton will be reduced to one train per hour, and will call additionally at Three Bridges.

Planning your journey:

To help you plan your journey, you can find alternative route maps on the Southern or Thameslink website.

Please check journey planners and station information boards before you travel and allow extra time to reach your destination.

Live departure boards for Southern and Thameslink services can viewed, as well as live disruption maps for Southern or Thameslink services to see if your journey has been affected.

You can also use the Southern or Thameslink app to find up-to-date travel information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

There has been a report of a possible issue with the track in this area. Network Rail's engineers are attending as quickly as possible to carry out a detailed inspection.

There are various types of defects, and the first advice usually comes from drivers or other staff travelling through the area. Response staff will check the location which has been specified and find out whether the track is still supported correctly, whether the rails themselves are in the usual condition, and if there are any problems with the fixings and metalwork which attach the rails to the sleepers.

Until this is done, trains have been stopped from running on some southbound lines through this part of the network. This is a necessary safety precaution.

When we get more updates from the site, we'll pass them on to you.

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.