Media centre

Wednesday 23 Sep 2015

Heading to the south coast this weekend? Please check before you travel

Region & Route:

| Southern

Network Rail is carrying out important improvements to the railway at several points along the Brighton main line on Sunday 27 September.

This will mean that replacement bus services will operate between Three Bridges and Brighton stations, meaning journeys between London and Brighton are likely to take longer. There are some direct trains to Brighton, but they use a longer route and take around two hours.

Buses will operate every 15 minutes, alternating between stopping services and those that go straight to Brighton. This will mean that there will be a fast bus every 30 minutes.

These changes are to allow engineers - working from the early hours of Sunday morning through to 4am on Monday - to complete the following enhancements:

• Track improvements in the Balcombe area and in Balcombe
• Installation of new traction power supply cables through Clayton Tunnel (between Hassocks and Preston Park).
  • Both of which will improve reliability and reduce infrastructure related delays.
• Construction works for a new footbridge at Haywards Heath, part of a wider scheme that includes increased car parking and better accessibility for commuters.
• Preparatory platform works at Haywards Heath for the new Thameslink class 700 fleet.
  • This is critical work not only for the south east but also for cascading electric trains to other parts of the country.
• A variety of track and structures maintenance works.

The Brighton main line is one of the busiest routes in the country, carrying up to 60,000 passengers into central London every hour at peak times on weekdays. Our improvement works are important to keep the railway running reliably and to making the service better. We work across the country as part of our major long-term investment programme to make Britain’s railways better.

Improvement work is mostly carried out overnight and, where necessary, on Sundays when the railway carries the fewest people. This work was scheduled in October 2013.

For more information about Network Rail’s improvement programme, see http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/indexpage.aspx. 

For information about individual train services, please consult www.southernrailway.com or call 03451 27 29 20