Network Rail has issued an extraordinary appeal for people not to use the rail network, after widespread flooding on the Brighton Main Line overnight between Brighton and Gatwick.
“Flooding on the railway is severely impacting services,” they said in an urgent alert issued just after 8am.
This comes just two days after commuter chaos around East Croydon, when a power cut and signalling outage on Wednesday left thousands of passengers stranded, many stuck of trains around the “Selhurst Triangle” for hours at a time during Wednesday evening’s rush hour.
Today, Network Rail engineers are on site again along the Brighton line, looking to remove floodwater after heavy rainfall overnight.
Flooding near the Balcombe Tunnel in Sussex has cut off the Brighton Main Line
According to Network Rail, “The line between Haywards Heath and Three Bridges is closed, so Network Rail is urging passengers to follow the travel advice issued by train operators along the route, which is that passengers in this area should not travel. The Uckfield line south of Crowborough is also closed.
“Severe flooding causes significant challenges for the railway. It can dislodge ballast, the stones which support the track, cause damage to electrical equipment which controls train movements and can mean debris is washed on to the track.
“All of this needs to be inspected and any debris removed before train services can resume again.”
In their statement, they added, “Network Rail is sorry for the disruption this morning and thanks passengers for their patience during this time.”
To check your rail service status, visit
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/
https://www.southernrailway.com/ or
https://www.gatwickexpress.com/
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All this on top of East and West Croydon being brought to a halt Wednesday afternoon and evening due to signal failure and there only being one platform, southbound at Gatwick, Thursday due to a power outage.
It would have been helpful if there had been station staff at the barriers warning people of the problem rather than leaving us to lug our shopping all the way down to the platform and back up the slope.