Disruption between Three Bridges and Haywards Heath expected until 22:00 

Route(s) affected

Gatwick Express between London Victoria and Brighton

Southern between London Bridge / London Victoria / Haywards Heat and Eastbourne, between London Bridge / London Victoria and Littlehampton, and also between London Victoria and Ore / Hastings / Brighton

Thameslink between Cambridge / Bedford / Gatwick Airport and Brighton, and also between Bedford and Haywards Heath

Description

A fault with the signalling system between Three Bridges and Haywards Heath means some lines are disrupted. As a result, trains may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 22:00.

Customer advice:

If you are travelling between Gatwick Airport and Haywards Heath you may have to change trains more times than normal. Please allow at least an additional 20 minutes to complete your journey.

Please talk to station staff, look at the information boards or check your journey planner for the most recent information.

How is the service being changed?

While this disruption is ongoing, there will be the following changes to services:

• Some Thameslink services that normally run between Bedford / Cambridge to Brighton may terminate and restart at Gatwick Airport / Three Bridges

• Gatwick Express services are cancelled until further notice

Can I use my ticket with another operator?

You can travel on the following services at no additional cost:

• Southern services between London and Brighton

• Thameslink services between London and Brighton

Planning your journey:

You can use live departure boards and a live map of the network. This will now show where your journey is likely to be delayed.

You can also use the 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 Gatwick Express / Southern / Thameslink app to get more information about your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A track circuit failure will disrupt your journey in the Balcombe 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.