Disruption at Gillingham (Kent) expected until 21:00 

Route(s) affected

Southeastern between London St Pancras International and Ramsgate / Margate / Faversham, and between London Victoria and Gillingham (Kent) / Ramsgate / Dover priory, and also between London Cannon Street and Ramsgate / Dover Priory

Thameslink between Luton / West Hampstead Thameslink / Kentish Town / Dartford and Rainham (Kent)

Description

A fault with the signalling system at Gillingham (Kent) means that all lines are blocked. As a result, trains running through this station may be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 21:00.

Southeastern customer advice:

What's happened?

A fault with the signalling system has been reported at Gillingham (Kent). All lines are currently blocked.

Response staff are on site and manually operating a set of points to allow services to run through platforms 2 and 3 in both directions; the current estimate for trains to be able to start getting on the move is 19:45.

How does this affect my journey?

No trains can run in either direction via Gillingham (Kent). Services will be cancelled, diverted, or terminated / restarted short of their destination.

What should I do?

You can use your ticket at no extra cost on:

• Arriva Bus routes 101, 140, 190, 191, 700

• Fastrack Bus route B between Ebbsfleet and Gravesend

• London Underground between our London Terminals

• Stagecoach Bus routes 15 and X3

Alternative routes:

For details of alternative routes that may be available to complete your journey, please refer to our Alternative routes during disruption maps.

How can I stay up to date?

You can follow Southeastern on Twitter (X) @SE_Railway or follow the Southeastern WhatsApp channel.

Thameslink customer advice:

If you are travelling in the Gillingham (Kent) area, please delay travelling until later this evening if possible.

All lines through the area are currently blocked, and trains are unable to run in any direction. Thameslink services scheduled to run to or from Rainham (Kent) will terminate and restart short of the Gillingham (Kent) area to prevent congestion on the wider network.

Thameslink are working closely with colleagues at Network Rail to determine alternative operating plans and will share updated service information as soon as it is confirmed.

Ticket Acceptance

If you wish to travel now you will need to travel on an alternative route to do so you can use your ticket on the following at no extra cost:

• Arriva Bus 191 / 101 / 140 / 700 / 190

• Fastrack Bus B between Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend

• Southeastern between London and Rainham (Kent) (not valid on High Speed services)

• Thameslink any reasonable route

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 Gillingham (Kent) 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.