Briefing
Repairs to the landslip area
Unfortunately the line will be closed between East Grinstead and Lingfield until 30th March 2020, but we are constantly reviewing our plans to fix the landslips, and challenging each other to try and deliver it early. It’s a big job in a remote location in the middle of a wood – two separate landslips of 20m and 30m with an 800m road under construction to reach the site.
The first slip happened on 22 December but we were able to run trains until February 12, when it slipped too far to be safe. The second slip followed during Storm Dennis.
We will still have work to do on site after fixing the two landslips, as we will need to reinforce the section of railway in between the two slip sites. The plan is to repair the slip sites with piled walls and a regrade of the embankment.
The first landslip needs 6,000 tonnes of stone and second landslip needs 12,000 tonnes of stone, all to be delivered on 25 trains. We will be keeping passengers up to date with the progress of work on our Twitter feed @NetworkRailSE.
Services
Unfortunately, journeys will take longer than usual and customers will need to use a replacement bus or an alternative route.
Travel advice for passengers using Southern services
Trains will run between London Victoria and Lingfield for most of the day.
Replacement buses will operate between Lingfield, Dormans and East Grinstead, and also between East Grinstead and Three Bridges, connecting with services to/from London.
Some early-morning and late-evening trains will only run between London Victoria and either Oxted or Hurst Green. Replacement buses at these times will be extended to run to & from Oxted or Hurst Green to meet these trains.
Travel advice for passengers using Thameslink weekday peak-time services
Thameslink will run a reduced peak-time service on weekday mornings and evenings.
Thameslink trains that do operate on this line will start at Oxted (for journeys towards London) and terminate at Oxted (heading away from London).
General advice for your journey
First Class can be used by Standard Class ticket holders on the following services, in both directions:
• Services between Lingfield and London
•Uckfield Line services, between Oxted and London Bridge only
If you hold a car park season ticket for East Grinstead or Lingfield, you can also travel from Gatwick Airport and use the South Terminal Long Stay car park – postcode RH6 0LL.
Additional parking is also available at Lingfield Park Racecourse.
For full details of your travel options during this incident, please visit East Grinstead landslip.
Travel arrangements with other operators
Southern and Thameslink tickets can be used with the following at no extra cost:
•Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express between Haywards Heath, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, Redhill (as applicable) and Central London
•Southern services between Uckfield and London Bridge
•Southeastern services between Tunbridge Wells / Tonbridge and London Charing Cross / Victoria / Cannon Street
•London Underground between London Terminals
Buses:
Metrobus:
•84 (weekdays, until 18:00) between Crawley and East Grinstead (via Three Bridges)
•281 (until 18:00) between Crawley and Lingfield (via Three Bridges and East Grinstead)
•291 (until 22:00) between Crawley and Tunbridge Wells (for Three Bridges, East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells – please note that some evening buses do not run to/from Tunbridge Wells)
•400 (until 18:00) between East Grinstead and Caterham (via Three Bridges, Crawley, Gatwick Airport, Horley, Salfords and Redhill)
Southdown:
•236 between Oxted and East Grinstead via Edenbridge Town
•409 between East Grinstead, the Lingfield area, Caterham and Upper Warlingham / Whyteleafe (please note that not all 409 buses will serve all of these stops)
•410 between Oxted and Redhill
Compass:
•31 between Uckfield and Haywards Heath via Newick and North Chailey
•261 between Uckfield and East Grinstead via Wych Cross and Forest Row
Check before you travel
You can check your journey for today using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.
You can find the location of your bus replacement by checking station signs or by searching for your station on our station information pages.
Twitter
If you would like to follow this incident on Twitter, please use #EastGrinstead
Compensation
You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.