Major disruption between Worthing and Hove expected until 19:00 

Route(s) affected

Between Southampton Central / Portsmouth & Southsea / Chichester / Littlehampton / West Worthing and Brighton

Description

A person has been struck by a train between Worthing and Hove. So that the emergency services can safely provide assistance, all lines are closed. As a result, trains operating through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Major disruption is expected until 19:00.

A visual disruption map video is available.

If you've been affected by what happened on the network today, there is always someone to talk to. You can contact the Samaritans on 116 123 from any phone for a confidential chat.

Customer advice:

If you are travelling between Worthing and Brighton and have not yet started your journey, you are strongly advised to delay travelling until later this afternoon.

Services running across the West Coastway are severely disrupted and subject to short-notice cancellations, delays, and revisions due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Worthing and Brighton.

If you must travel now, please allow at least an extra 60 minutes to complete your journey.

Changes to services

Lines between Worthing and Brighton are currently blocked. Services are operating to the following plan:

• Littlehampton to London Victoria: Services will be diverted on either of the following depending on crew

  • Diverted between Littlehampton and Gatwick Airport via the Arun Valley line (via Horsham)

  • Divert to Brighton after Preston Park terminating and restarting from there

• Brighton Southampton Central: Running between Worthing and Southampton Central only (operating via Littlehampton)

• Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour: Suspended in both directions

• Brighton to Chichester: Suspended in both directions

Stations not currently being served:

While this incident is ongoing, the following stations cannot be served by train:

• Hove (where possible, a limited Brighton to Hove Shuttle service will run)

• Aldrington

• Portslade

• Fishersgate

• Southwick

• Shoreham-by-sea

• Lancing

• East Worthing

If you are travelling to or from any of these stations, please use Stagecoach bus routes 700, 701 and 11 to connect with train services at Brighton, Worthing or Littlehampton. Doing this will extend your journey time by at least 60 minutes.

Ticket acceptance on alternative routes:

To help you complete your journey, ticket acceptance is in place at no extra cost on:

• Southern: Via any reasonable alternative route

• Thameslink: Between Brighton and Gatwick Airport

• Gatwick Express between Brighton and Gatwick Airport

• Stagecoach buses:

  • 11: Between Worthing and Littlehampton

  • 700: Between Brighton, Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, and Worthing

  • 701: Between Lancing, Worthing and Littlehampton

Some stations on this route won't have an alternative public transport option. Every effort will be made to provide alternative road transport, but there may be a long wait. Please speak to station staff, where available. If there are no staff, you can use the Emergency button on the station Help Point instead, or speak to us on social media.

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?

Whenever an incident of this nature occurs, power to the electric third rail must be switched off immediately and all train movements brought to a stand. This allows the British Transport Police, local ambulance crews, and Network Rail response teams safe access to the railway.

Emergency services and response staff are on site dealing with the incident as sensitively, quickly, and safely as possible. Lines will remain closed until their investigations are complete and the railway is handed back to Network Rail.

We work closely with the Samaritans and support the vital work that they do. If you or someone close to you has been affected by this incident, there is always someone to talk to. Contact the Samaritans free of charge at any time on 116 123. Help is only a phone call away.

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.