Sussex railway emergency incident: Major delays reported

Southern Rail reported at 12am that services running through between Haywards Heath and Preston Park ‘may be delayed’.

This was ‘due to the emergency services dealing with an incident earlier today’, Southern said.

Explaining the incident, a spokesperson for Govia Thameslink Railway said: “We were worried last night for a man seen in a concerning location at Hassocks. Trains were cautioned through the station while a rail staff manager and British Transport Police officer went to check all was OK. We stayed with him until he caught his train.”

Whilst the incident was ongoing, a Southern Rail statement on X (formerly Twitter) read: “Some Southern trains are running with delays of up to 20-40 minutes after the emergency services dealt with an incident.”

Just before 1am, Southern wrote: “Disruption caused by the emergency services dealing with an incident earlier today between Haywards Heath and Preston Park has now ended. Services are no longer affected by this problem.”