Easter weekend travel: Points failure causes significant rail delays between Sussex and London

Southern Rail reported at 7am on Saturday (April 19) that a points failure occurred between East Croydon and London Bridge and all lines to London Bridge were blocked.

The latest update – at 12.50pm – was that a reduced service is in place between London and Eastbourne. People are being urged to ‘travel via Brighton’.

"Also, trains that usually run between London Bridge and Littlehampton are running between East Croydon and Littlehampton only – meaning between London and Croydon you need to use an alternative route,” Southern Rail added.

The original social media notice advised that trains were ‘diverting around the issue’ and this was ‘causing delays’.

Train services running through these stations were subject to delays of 40 minutes and ‘you may need to change trains or method of transport’ to reach your destination.

This will affect your journey if you are travelling on any of the below routes:

– Caterham/Tattenham Corner to London Bridge;

– Littlehampton/Eastbourne/Uckfield to London Bridge.

Southern Rail added: "If you are travelling from these stations towards central London, you should take a train to East Croydon and change for a return service.

“For travel to one of these stations from the direction of East Croydon travel to London Bridge and take a return service.”

Southern warned that trains ‘may not serve all its usual stations’ and ‘you should listen our for more information’ at stations and on board your trains.

At 9.45am, the train company advised: “A reminder that if you are travelling between East Croydon and London Bridge, your journey time will be extended by around 40 minutes and you could need to use an alternative route."

Network Rail explained that engineers were on site ‘trying to replace a microswitch’ following a points failure near Sydenham.

"Points allow trains to switch track, and this failure means our signallers can’t currently set a safe route for the trains,” a post on X added.

"Services into London Bridge are impacted so please check with your train operator or @nationalrailenq for the latest travel advice.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience to your journey and working hard to get services operating normally.”

Southern Rail reported at 11.10am that this disruption ‘caused some gaps’ between Crowborough and Uckfield.

“To help keep you on the move, rail replacement buses will be arriving at 11.20 and will run unadvertised shuttles between these stations calling at all stops,” Southern added.

"Please speak to station staff for further information.”

Meanwhile, buses are replacing trains all Easter weekend between Eastbourne and Hastings. There is also a reduced Southern and Gatwick Express service in and out of London Victoria over the Easter weekend.

There were further rail delays in Surrey on Saturday morning after a train has broke down between Redhill and Tonbridge. This has since been resolved.

For more info, visit https://www.southernrailway.com/service-updates/service-updates