Thursday 13 Feb 2020
Passengers on the East Grinstead line urged to check before they travel due to emergency engineering work
- Region & Route:
- Southern
- A landslip has forced the closure of the railway between East Grinstead and Hurst Green
- Rail replacement bus services are now running between Hurst Green and East Grinstead
- From tomorrow, we will be able to run a two trains per hour service between Lingfield and London Victoria, all day
- During the peaks, we will be able to operate up to three 12-car Thameslink trains between Oxted and London Bridge
Thameslink and Southern passengers on the East Grinstead line are advised to check before they travel after a landslip near East Grinstead.
Following a landslip north of East Grinstead station on December 28, a 20mph speed restriction has been in operation so trains could continue to run safely. However, Storm Ciara and further heavy rain overnight has caused more damage to the embankment.
Rail replacement bus services are running between Hurst Green and East Grinstead.
Shaun King, route director for the Southern region, said: “I know this kind of disruption is really frustrating for you, our passengers, but it’s a decision we’ve had to make for your safety.
“The railway does need to be closed for a longer period to fix this landslip permanently, however we cannot give an exact timescale for when the railway can reopen at this stage.
“But we are working hard to design a permanent fix and will update passengers as soon as possible once we know exactly how long it could take.
“We are doing everything we can to get you moving again.”
Angie Doll, Govia Thameslink Railway’s Managing Director for Southern and Gatwick Express, said:
“We continue to work closely with Network Rail to keep passengers updated, and advise passengers to check the latest information on our website at www.southernrailway.com before they travel.
“We also encourage anyone whose journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more because of this incident to claim Delay Repay compensation via the website.”
For further updates, please check www.southernrailway.com and www.thameslinkrailway.com
Notes to Editors
John Halsall, managing director, Southern region has also written an explanation on twitter which you can find here: https://twitter.com/networkrailse/status/1227996254770167811.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
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Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Leonard Bennett
Leonard.Bennett@networkrail.co.uk
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