Matchday travel fears as Brighton railway station incident disrupts trains before Albion take on Manchester United
The emergency services responded to an incident at Brighton railway station on Sunday (May 24).
This prompted Southern Rail to switch off power to the tracks, which caused disruption to services on part of the network.
In a series of live updates posted on X (formerly Twitter), Southern Rail initially warned – at 2.15pm – that ‘no trains can run in or out of Brighton until further notice’ while the situation was dealt with.
The operator later clarified that the power isolation is only affecting platform 1, meaning disruption is currently limited to West Coastway services, while East Coastway routes are not expected to be impacted.
Shortly after, Southern said journeys between Hove and London should still run, with only minor delays expected due to congestion in the Brighton/Hove area. Passengers currently travelling were advised to continue using normal routes, though delays of around 15 minutes are possible.
Live departure boards and journey planning tools were also directed to passengers via the operator’s website and live map service Southern Rail live departures and live disruption map Southern Rail live map.
At 3.47pm, Southern confirmed that the power to the line at Brighton had been turned back on. It added: “We are now able to run in and out of platforms 1, 2 & 3 as normal.
"We are now working on getting our services back on schedule.”
At 4.36pm, services were no longer being impacted by this incident.
However, services towards Portsmouth were being delayed or altered due to a points failure in the Havant area.
Impact on football fans travelling to Brighton
It was feared that the timing of the disruption would affect some supporters, travelling to watch Brighton & Hove Albion take on Manchester United at the Amex Stadium.
While Southern Rail says services between Hove and London were largely unaffected, the West Coastway restriction and local congestion around Brighton and Hove still led to delays on connecting journeys into Falmer/Amex Stadium routes, particularly for those relying on changes at Brighton station.
Hundreds of people have also been travelling to Brighton to enjoy the bank holiday weekend sunshine, as temperatures continue to soar. Highs of 30 degrees Celsius are expected by Monday afternoon.