Disruption between Fareham and Southampton Central expected until 18:00 

Route(s) affected

Great Western Railway between Portsmouth Harbour and Cardiff Central

South Western Railway between Woking / Portsmouth & Southsea and Southampton Central

Southern between Brighton and Southampton Central

Description

A fault with the signalling system between Fareham and Southampton Central means some lines are blocked.

Trains running between these stations may be cancelled, or revised.

Disruption is expected until 18:00.

South Western Railway customer advice:

Long distance and mainline services:

Trains between London Waterloo and Bournemouth / Weymouth may be delayed in the Southampton area or use different platforms to normal.

South and west local services:

Trains between Salisbury and Romsey may be delayed in the Southampton area or use different platforms to normal.

Trains between Southampton and Portsmouth may be delayed in the Southampton area or use different platforms to normal.

How do I get to my destination?

Please allow extra time for your journey and check for updates.

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:

You may need to change trains to complete your journey this afternoon and Southern recommend leaving at least 20 minutes extra time to travel.

Southern services will terminate and restart either at Fareham or St Denys as follows:

• Services that depart Brighton at 13 past the hour will terminate at Fareham

• Services that depart Brighton at 43 past the hour will terminate at St Denys

This means that no Southern services will be calling at Southampton Central until further notice.

If you are travelling to a station between Fareham and St Denys, please check information screens to ensure you take the correct train. You can also change for an alternative train service at Fareham.

If you are travelling to / from Southampton Central, you can use a South Western Railway service to / from Fareham at no extra cost. Please note that these services have also been affected by this disruption and are therefore likely to be affected.

Tickets are being accepted at no additional cost on:

• Alternative Southern services between Fareham and St Denys

• South Western Railway services between Fareham and Southampton Central

Planning your journey:

You can see live departure boards, a live map of the network and 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 app will also help you plan 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. 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. We're closely monitoring progress updates, and we'd like to thank you for your patience.

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.