Strike action by union ASLEF has led to Govia Thameslink Railway having to make a difficult decision, which means that no trains will run in or out of Brighton station on Saturday the 5th of August.

The closure of the station means that sadly the rail operator is unable to support people attending Pride on Saturday as it has done for many years.

ASLEF revealed that they will be taking action in the form of an overtime ban from the 31st of July to the 5th of August, which will see Govia Thameslink Railway operating a substantially reduced timetable.

During this time, trains will have significantly less capacity than is required in order to transport the high numbers of people heading to and from the Pride event on Saturday the 5th of August. Friday the 4th and Sunday the 6th of August will see services operating.

The rail operator has provided increased services each year in order to support Pride, including extra late-night trains on the Saturday evening. In order to operate a safe service for the huge number of passengers attending the event’s busiest day, which features the well-loved Saturday community parage and Fabuloso fundraiser in Preston Park, an increase in capacity and services is essential.

During normal working conditions, the essential extra services are operated by drivers who volunteer for overtime and without their support, the increase necessary in late-night services will not be available, creating a risk of thousands of passengers being stranded overnight without accommodation. Saturday night of the Brighton Pride event sees a massive demand with 20,000 passengers requiring late-night services over a short period of time.

In order to keep both passengers and colleagues safe, discussions with the council, police and emergency services have taken place alongside Govia Thameslink Railway carrying out risk assessments. The results of which have led to the extremely sad conclusion of the rail operator not being able to run any services in our out of Brighton on Saturday the 5th of August, as severe overcrowding cannot be avoided which would bring sizeable risks to passenger safety.

Passengers planning to travel to Brighton Pride on Saturday the 5th of August can no longer use train services and will sadly need to find alternate travel arrangements. Friday the 4th and Sunday the 6th of August will remain unaffected.

Travel information for Saturday 5 August:

• No trains will operate in or out of Brighton station on Saturday 5 August, with the station closed for the entire day.
• Trains using the Brighton mainline will terminate at Three Bridges, which will allow passengers to travel to major stations such as Gatwick Airport.
• Stations between Three Bridges and Brighton will not be served throughout Saturday, the 5th of August
• Trains will not run along the southern coastways into Brighton due to an amended timetable which will be in operation.

Govia Thameslink Railway will be impacted across its entire network, seeing an amended timetable in operation with fewer services due to the industrial action. Some services will start and finish earlier and trains will be much busier than usual with queuing expected.

Passengers travelling during the industrial action are advised to check the first and last train services carefully.

Journey planners are now covering from Monday the 31st of July to Friday the 4th of August. Details for Saturday, the 5th of August will be released on Monday, the 31st of July.

To find out more about Brighton Pride, please visit Southern Railway’s dedicated page by clicking here.

Chris Fowler, Network Operations and Performance Director, GTR, said:

“GTR has an extremely long-standing relationship with Pride and we are bitterly disappointed to make this unbelievably difficult decision. We know this will be incredibly frustrating and we’re really sorry to everyone who will be impacted, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community.”

“After exploring all possible options, and following discussions with the police, emergency services and local council, we simply cannot run a safe service with enough capacity for the extraordinary number of passengers that travel to Brighton for Pride. We can’t in good faith bring people into Brighton that cannot get home again, potentially leaving thousands of people stranded – safety must come first.”

“We hope by making this decision now it will allow people time to plan other options and we hope to be back supporting Pride with full services for the whole weekend next year.”