Line reopened: disruption between Brighton / Hove and Haywards Heath expected until the end of the day 

Route(s) affected

between Brighton / Hove and Haywards Heath

Description

Lines have reopened following an earlier fault with the signalling system in the Preston Park area. As service recovers, trains running between Brighton / Hove and Haywards Heath may still be delayed, cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer advice:

Trains can run again from Preston Park towards Haywards Heath. While service recovery takes place you will still need to allow extra time to travel,

This means services between Brighton and Gatwick Airport will be delayed until further notice.

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

Planning your journey:

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

You can also use the app to get more information about your journey.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

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. Track circuits 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.

In this area, trains take it in turns to run in both directions over a single section of track, as it's a less busy route. This means the track circuits are especially important, ensuring it is safe to send other trains through, sometimes in the opposite direction to the last one. Unfortunately, in this case, there is no way to reopen the route before today's track circuit fault is resolved.

Network Rail engineers will be attending as quickly as possible to deal with the issue. Train operators 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.