Disruption to / from Portsmouth Harbour expected until 12:00 

Route(s) affected

Great Western Railway between Portsmouth Harbour and Bristol Temple Meads / Cardiff Central

South Western Railway between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head / London Waterloo

Southern between Portsmouth Harbour and Horsham / London Victoria

Description

A fault with the signalling system at Portsmouth Harbour means that all lines are blocked.

As a result, services to / from this station may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.

This is expected until 12:00.

A visual disruption map video is available.

Additional information:

Response staff are on site.

South Western Railway customer advice:

Services between Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo via Guildford will terminate and restart from Portsmouth & Southsea.

Services between Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo via Eastleigh will terminate and restart at Fratton.

Services between Portsmouth & Southsea and Southampton Central will terminate and restart at Fratton or Fareham.

How do I get to my destination?

You can still travel towards or from Portsmouth & Southsea station by train however there are significant delays affecting services in and out of Portsmouth so please allow extra time for your journey.

To assist with travel towards and from Portsmouth Harbour, South Western Railway are arranging for you to be able to use your ticket at no extra cost with bus operators between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. You'll be updated once this is in place.

Ticket acceptance:

Your ticket can be used at no extra cost on Southern services between Portsmouth & Southsea and Havant.

Further information:

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.

Southern customer advice:

Services are unable to run in the Portsmouth Harbour area, and there is a queue of trains between Fratton and Portsmouth & Southsea. You should allow an extra 20 minutes for your journey, and if you are travelling to Portsmouth Harbour you will need to use an alternative route.

You can use your Southern ticket on South Western Railway services between Portsmouth and Havant at no extra cost.

Planning your journey:

You can see the live departure boards, and view a live map of the network.

You can also view an alternative route guide.

Southern's app will also help you plan your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

An axle counter failure will disrupt your journey in the Portsmouth Harbour area.

This part of the network uses axle counters to detect whether trains are in the area. These are electrical systems which check the passage of train wheels and 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 an axle counter 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.

Axle counter faults can be caused by a number of different issues, including electronic faults and debris coming into contact with them. Network Rail manage the signalling system, including axle counters, and their staff will be investigating as quickly as possible. Teams are closely monitoring progress updates.

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.