Disruption to services through Fareham expected until 10:30 

Route(s) affected

Southern between Brighton and Southampton Central

South Western Railway between Portsmouth Harbour and Fareham / Eastleigh / London Waterloo, and between Portsmouth & Southsea and Southampton Central

Description

A fault with the signalling system in the Fareham area means that all lines are closed. As a result, services running in the Fareham area may be cancelled, revised or diverted.

Disruption is expected until 10:30.

Additional information:

Engineers are on site investigating.

Southern customer advice:

If you are travelling to or from Southampton this morning, you will need to delay your travel or use an alternative route, and should allow at least an extra 60 minutes to complete your journey.

Services scheduled to run to or from Southampton will now be diverted after Havant, starting and terminating at Portsmouth & Southsea instead. This is also affecting South Western services who are also unable to run to or from Southampton Central

At present, there are no direct alternative train or bus services available to or from Southampton. it is strongly advised you delay travelling to or from the Southampton area until alternative arrangements or route options are confirmed.

Please speak to station staff where available for further guidance, or check live departure boards if you have already started your journey.

Planning your journey:

You can use live departure boards, a live map of the network and the alternative route guide to help you.

If you're travelling in the London area, you can plan journeys on alternative routes by using the TfL Journey Planner.

The Southern app will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A points failure has been reported, and this is preventing trains from travelling on this route.

Points are moveable sections of track which can send trains onto different routes at junctions. These are part of the signalling system, generally managed by Network Rail.

Points can stop moving correctly for a number of reasons. For example, there may be an obstruction in the moving parts, or the electronic control systems may have developed a fault.

There are various backup systems which allow signallers to try to "set" the points, and in some cases, the points may be available for trains in one of the directions they serve, but not another. However, with more severe failures like this one, the route is blocked entirely.

Network Rail have sent their specialist Signalling & Telecoms teams to site as a priority, and they will set up a safe method of working on the track. As soon as it's safe to go on the line, they will diagnose the fault and find any quick solutions to resolve it.

At times, replacement parts may be needed, or specialist advice from suppliers, which is why some points failures take longer to resolve than others.

South Western customer advice:

Alteration to services:

Long distance and mainline services

Trains between Portsmouth and London Waterloo will run between Eastleigh and London Waterloo in both directions.

South and west local services

Trains between Portsmouth & Southsea and Southampton Central are cancelled in both directions.

How can you get to your destination?

South Western Railway are arranging rail replacement buses. More information will be provided when this is in place.

The rail replacement buses have been requested to run between Fratton and Southampton Central stopping at all stations in both directions, and between Fareham and Eastleigh stopping at Botley and Hedge End in both directions.

These buses are expected to be in place from approximately 07:00.

If you need any help with your journey, please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point.

If you would prefer to use local buses to continue your journey please check Traveline. South Western Railway tickets are not valid on local buses unless stated above.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use our Rail Replacement Services page.

You can find the pick-up and drop-off location of rail replacement services by checking station signage or by searching for your station on our Find a Station page.

Please be advised that replacement vehicles may be busier than usual, and you should allow extra time for your journey.

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.