Southern Rail: 'Severe disruption' reported after station roofing falls onto track in Sussex and causes 'electrical short circuit'

Southern Rail reported an obstruction at Barnham station just before 11am on Tuesday (June 3).

This was one of a ‘number of incidents’ in West Sussex throughout the day.

National Rail reported on Tuesday afternoon read: “A number of incidents have occurred today in the Barnham area. As a result, the line towards Chichester and Southampton are blocked.

"Trains running through Barnham may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

“Disruption is expected until 20:00.

"Train services to and from Portsmouth and Southampton via Chichester are severely disrupted, and you may each your destination at least 45 minutes later than planned. Earlier service cancellations are also likely to affect your travel plans.”

Train staff worked with Network Rail engineers to ‘remove a piece of station roofing’ that fell on the track at Barnham.

"Although this obstruction is now clear, it has caused an electrical short circuit, which has in turn affected the signalling system,” an incident update read.

"As this is ‘failsafe’, the route towards Chichester is unavailable, and the points are locked so that trains must travel towards Bognor Regis and avoid the issue.”

The routes affected are between London Victoria and Bognor Regis / Portsmouth Harbour; between Brighton and Chichester / Portsmouth & Southsea / Southampton Central; between Horsham and Bognor Regis / Portsmouth Harbour; and between Barnham and Bognor Regis.

National Rail added: “An obstruction on the track at Barnham is causing severe disruption to Southern services in this area. This has also led to a points failure at the same station, due to the location where the item has fallen.

“Trains are currently unable to run from Barnham towards Chichester, Portsmouth or Southampton Central. In reaction, trains in the opposite direction are also affected.

“Because the line is closed at this location, trains will be revised or cancelled at short notice.

“Where trains are revised, it means they may finish their journeys before they get to the affected area, or may be diverted to different destinations.

“For example, some trains will divert to Bognor Regis after leaving Barnham.

“Because this incident is causing congestion in the area, you will also find a delay of up to 30 minutes to trains which are running.”

Passengers were warned that trains may be cancelled to ‘reduce congestion in the area’. They were told to leave ‘at least 30-60 minutes of extra time’ to complete their journey.

Tickets were accepted ‘at no extra cost’ on some South Western Railway services, Great Western Railway (GWR) services, Stagecoach buses and London Underground services.

During the incident, Southern were unable to provide its ‘usual train service’ at the following stations: Fishbourne; Bosham; Nutbourne; Southbourne; Emsworth; Warblington; Havant; Hilsea; Fratton; Portsmouth & Southsea; Portsmouth Harbour; Cosham; Fareham; Swanwick; Woolston or Southampton Central.

With trains recovering from the above incident, trespassers – near Havant and Worthing – forced the electricity to be switched off on two separate occasions on Tuesday evening.

You may be entitled to compensation if you experienced a delay in completing your journey. Keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as ‘both will be required to support any claim’: www.delayrepay.southernrailway.com/