Southern Rail: Delays across Sussex explained as some trains 'held in stations'

Southern Rail reported at 11.25am that – ‘due to a points failure at Arundel’ – services travelling from Brighton/Hove towards Barnham and Littlehampton ‘will experience delays’.

Then, at 1.50pm, the train company reported a fault with the signalling system between Gatwick Airport and Redhill. Services towards London have experienced delays all afternoon.

People have been urged to ‘please check your journey before travelling’.

Addressing the Arundel incident, a social media notice from Southern Rail read: “Network Rail are already on site and are investigating this point failure.

"If you're travelling west towards Littlehampton, Barnham, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton, your journey is likely to be delayed by at least 10 minutes.

“Services travelling west are currently being held in stations whilst Network Rail are inspecting the points.”

Southern Rail said all services travelling through Arundel were ‘currently being held in stations’ at 11.50am.

"We're working with Network Rail to get all lines reopened as soon as possible,” a spokesperson added.

"We're working on organising ticket acceptance and will update you on this shortly.

“Once the line reopens, we'll be working to recover the service timetable.

“Services will experience alterations, meaning they won't stop at their usual stations or will be started/terminated early, and also some cancellations.”

All lines had reopened by 12.15pm but people were warned about ‘ad-hoc alterations’ to services.

Southern Rail added: “You should allow at least 40 minutes extra time for your journey this afternoon.

“Disruption is expected to continue well into this afternoon, so please take this into consideration when planning your journey home.”

Services have experienced delays along the whole of the West Coast route. Tickets have been accepted on other methods of transport.

At 1.38pm, ticket acceptance was reduced meaning people could only use tickets on SWR services between Southampton and Portsmouth. Tickets were also no longer being accepted on the London Underground.

However, services were still experiencing alterations and delays. Southern Rail added: “Make sure you allow extra time in case you need to change trains en-route to your destination.”

The latest update at 3.20pm read: “Please continue to use our live departure boards on our website to check your journey, and see above for ticket acceptance currently in place.”

An update was also posted at this time about the signalling fault between Gatwick and Redhill.

This read: “Services are still affected by to the fault with the signalling system, with delays likely, especially in the Gatwick Airport area due to congestion.”

This afternoon, passengers have been able to use their ticket at no extra cost on:

– Metrobus routes between Crawley, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, Horley, Salfords, and Redhill;

– Alternative Southern and Thameslink services ‘on any reasonable route’.

A further update at 5.30pm read: “Engineers have now attended, and services are now able to run as booked.

“Please check live departure boards at www.southernrailway.com/service-updates/live-departures-and-arrivals for the latest service information.”