Sussex rail delays: passengers told not to travel with no trains running

At 3.57am Southern Rail reported that no trains are running throughout the county due to the fault.

On X, formally known as Twitter, Southern posted: “Due to a major signalling fault across the whole Southern Network, no trains will be running until further notice.

“Do not travel on any Southern route until further notice.”

Major disruption is set to continue to all travel until 3pm.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Southern Rail added: “A number of incidents today between East Croydon and Brighton means trains running between these stations may be cancelled, diverted or delayed.

"Southern services will not run on the route between Littlehampton and London Victoria and only a very limited train service will run between Brighton and London.

"Some Southern services between Ore / Eastbourne and London Victoria will stop additionally at Three Bridges.

"Thameslink services on the route between Brighton and Bedford may be severely delayed

“We don't have an exact estimate for the delays, but please leave plenty of time for your journey. Some trains may be altered, not stopping at all the usual stations en route.”

Further disruption has been caused following a power supply and points problems on the route via Hove.

The spokesperson added: “Only very limited Southern services will be able to run between Brighton and Portsmouth / Southampton Central via Worthing and Chichester. Other trains through Hove are likely to be cancelled. Trains will currently run approximately every hour.”

Thameslink services are also being affected by the disruption.

A spokesperson for the operator said: “Services between Cambridge and Brighton will not run. If you are travelling on this route please use alternative Great Northern services between Cambridge and London and alternative Thameslink services between London and Brighton

“There is a reduced service at Preston Park, Hassocks, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath towards Gatwick Airport. Services through these stations are expected to be extremely busy so please allow an extra 30 minutes to complete your journey.”

Following the signalling fault, a spokesperson for Network Rail Kent & Sussex added: “We're really sorry to any Southern Rail, Gatwick Express and Thameslink passengers disrupted this morning following a loss of power with provider UK Power Networks early this morning.

“This impacted all our signalling capability south of East Croydon through to Lancing.

"We were able to restore our signalling by 6.30am however there is significant disruption across large parts of the route.

“Some Southern Rail services are cancelled or reduced and Gatwick Express services won't run this morning until further notice.

"On top of this, our engineers are on site at Haywards Heath and Preston Park where they're working to fix two faults with the points - the moveable sections of track that allow trains to move from one line to another. Once again, we're really sorry for the delays.”