Essential engineering work on Sunday the 5th of February will see restrictions put in place for services operating on the Brighton Mainline.

Rail operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express are advising passengers to check their travel using online journey planners for travel between London, Gatwick Airport and Sussex whilst the work is underway.

Network Rail will be carrying out the essential engineering work which will require trains travelling between London and Gatwick Airport to make long diversions and will also see a reduced service between Brighton and Gatwick Airport. Journey time will be substantially longer than usual so anyone travelling to fly from Gatwick should leave plenty of extra time.

During the period of work, no through trains will operate on the mainline between London and Gatwick, whilst Gatwick Airport and Brighton will see just two trains each hour. Services which are heading to London from Littlehampton and Eastbourse will terminate at Three Bridges.

For travel between London and Gatwick:

• Passengers are advised to use a special diverted service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport which runs via Horsham and will operate two services each hour.

For travel between Brighton or the East Sussex coast and London:

• Passengers are advised to travel via Three Bridges where a rail replacement bus service will run between Three Bridges and East Grinstead in order to make a connection with trains travelling to or from London or the diverted direct London train via Horsham.

For travel using the Arun Valley line from Bognor Regis or Portsmouth:

• Passengers will need to change at Horsham using the diverted London service.

For travel using the main line between Gatwick and East Croydon:

• A reduced service will operate between Gatwick Airport and Brighton with rail replacement buses running between Gatwick Airport and all stations to East Croydon.
• Passengers using the rail replacement buses are advised that due to a national shortage of bus drivers, they should check ahead of travelling as delays are likely.

For travel between East Croydon and Tattenham Corner or Caterham:

• No services will operate between East Croydon and Tattenham Corner or Caterham, however, a rail replacement bus service will be running between Purley and Tattenham Corner.

Sunday the 12th of February will also see line closures for different engineering work including Three Bridges and Brighton and between Three Bridges and Lewes.

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Southern and Thameslink, said: “We’re sorry for the inconvenience to customers during Network Rail’s essential work to keep this busy route in good shape. While we’ve arranged alternatives for our customers to get where they need to be, several routes are affected and many journeys will take considerably longer than normal, so please check your routes and times on a journey planner, or the Southern or Thameslink website, well ahead of your journey.”

Network Rail Route Director for Sussex, Lucy McAuliffe, said: “The Brighton Main Line needs a lot of constant work to keeping it running reliably and on Sunday the 5th we’ll be taking all lines out of use between Redhill and Croydon to tackle a host of maintenance work, including track smoothing on a major junction near Coulsdon.

“We know it’s frustrating for passengers in the short term when we divert trains, but this is a rare chance for us to undertake major work on such a busy section of track and will help us run a more reliable railway in the long term. I really appreciate everyone’s patience and urge them to check before they travel.”

Passengers can find out the latest and more detailed information regarding the effects of the essential engineering work on Sunday the 5th of February by using the following links:

• Southern: Planned Changes to Train Times | Southern Railway
• Thameslink:  Planned Changes to Train Times | Thameslink (thameslinkrailway.com)

The latest information regarding engineering work on Sunday the 12th of February can be found here:

• Southern: Planned Changes to Train Times | Southern Railway
• Thameslink: Planned Changes to Train Times | Thameslink (thameslinkrailway.com)

All journeys are able to be planned online via www.nationalrailenquiries.co.uk