Disruption between Lewes and Eastbourne expected until 19:00 

Route(s) affected

between Lewes and Eastbourne

Description

There is a safety inspection of the track currently taking place between Lewes and Eastbourne, meaning lines between these stations are closed. Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Disruption is expected until 19:00.

Customer advice:

If you have not yet started your journey, you are strongly advised to delay travel until later this evening. If you do travel now, you will need to use an alternative route for at least part of your trip, extending your journey time by at least 60 minutes.

Services running between Lewes and Eastbourne are severely disrupted due to an urgent safety inspection of the track between Berwick and Polegate.

Changes to services

While the line between Lewes and Eastbourne remains closed, services are operating to the following plan:

Brighton to Eastbourne / Hastings: suspended in both directions. If you are travelling on this route, please use Brighton & Hove Route 12 buses to travel between Brighton and Eastbourne.

London Victoria to Eastbourne: terminating at and starting back from Lewes. For travel between Lewes and Eastbourne, please take a Seaford-bound train to Newhaven Town, where you can connect with Brighton & Hove bus route 12 for services towards Eastbourne.

London Victoria to Ore: will run between Eastbourne and Ore only. For travel towards London, please use alternative Southeastern services from Hastings to London Charing Cross.

Brighton to Seaford: running as scheduled.

Eastbourne to Ashford International: running as scheduled.

Ticket Acceptance

To help you complete your journey you can use your ticket on any of these alternatives at no extra cost

• Alternative Southern services between Brighton, Lewes, Seaford, Eastbourne and Hastings

• Thameslink services to / from Brighton

• Gatwick Express between Brighton and London Victoria

• Southeastern between Hastings and Charing Cross (10-15 minute from London Victoria)

• Brighton & Hove Buses route 12 between Brighton and Eastbourne

Planning your journey:
For help planning your journey, check live departure boards, view a live network map or see alternative route guides.

If you’re travelling within London, you can use the TfL Journey Planner.

Stay up to date on the move with Southern’s WhatsApp channel. Live updates are available Monday to Friday, 07:00 – 21:00.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Network Rail is carrying out a safety inspection of the track between Berwick and Polegate following a report of a possible problem in the area.

As a precaution, trains are not running through the affected area until the track has been inspected. This is to make sure the railway is safe before trains are allowed to run again.

With the line closed, trains will need to be cancelled, revised or diverted. This can also affect services beyond the area where the inspection is taking place, as it may take longer for trains and crew to arrive in the right place to run their next scheduled service.

Once the safety inspection has been completed, Network Rail will decide whether any further work is needed or if it’s safe for trains to run again.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail 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.