Watch ‘explosion’ on Sussex railway tracks

This was the moment a section of Sussex railway line exploded in the early hours of this morning (June 10).
There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001
There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001

Jon Atherton was walking by Eastbourne station at around 4.30am when a section of the track sparked and let out a loud bang suddenly.

He said, “A massive explosion happened. I nearly fell off my bike. There were four explosions.”

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There were severe delays on the railway after an electricity supply failure at Eastbourne station today.

There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001
There was an 'explosion' on the tracks this morning...still from video by Jon Atherton SUS-191006-130536001

A Network Rail spokesperson said, “We are dealing with an incident in Eastbourne where a failure of the electricity supply is currently delaying trains.

“The railway here is powered by the third rail, an electrified rail on the ground, which is supported by ceramic insulators known as pots. In this case, the insulation failed so the ceramic pots cracked which explains the loud bang in the video footage.

“Fortunately there is only superficial damage, so our engineers are on site now and should be able to fix everything very soon. We are sorry for the disruption, and are still able to operate trains using two of the three platforms at Eastbourne.”

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Southen Rail said journeys between Lewes, Eastbourne, and Hastings were “heavily impacted” by the failure, and there was reported delays until around midday.

Video captured by Jon Atherton and edited by Justin Lycett.