Major disruption between Norwood Junction / Crystal Palace and London Bridge / Canada Water expected until the end of the day 

Route(s) affected

London Overground between West Croydon and New Cross Gate / Dalston Junction / Highbury & Islington

Southern between Uckfield / Purley / Epsom / Caterham / London Victoria and London Bridge

Thameslink between Brighton / Haywards Heath / Three Bridges / East Grinstead / Gatwick Airport and Bedford, between Brighton and Cambridge, between East Grinstead and London Bridge / London St Pancras International, between Three Bridges and Flitwick / Peterborough, and also between Horsham and Peterborough

Description

A fire next to the track near Brockley means all lines are closed between Sydenham and New Cross Gate whilst the emergency services attend to the incident.

London Overground services will only run between New Cross Gate and Highbury & Islington.

Southern and Thameslink services running through the area may be cancelled or diverted to and from London Victoria.

Major disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Advice for London Overground customers:

Trains are unable to run between West Croydon / Crystal Palace and New Cross Gate.

You may use your ticket on local buses via any reasonable route.

Advice for Southern and Thameslink customers:

Major disruption is affecting Thameslink and Southern services that run between East Croydon / Norwood Junction and London Bridge.

Southern and Thameslink would strongly advise that you avoid travelling where possible, and delay your journey until later today instead. Due to the reduction in services, trains are expected to be extremely busy.

At present, we are expecting the following service changes to trains running in both directions:

Southern:

• Services that run between Uckfield and London Bridge will run between Uckfield and East Croydon only, or will be cancelled

• Services that run between Tattenham Corner / Caterham and London Bridge will be diverted via an alternative route between East Croydon and London Bridge

• Services that run between Epsom and London Bridge will be diverted to / from London Victoria instead

• Services that run between London Victoria and London Bridge will be cancelled

Thameslink:

• Services that run between Brighton and Bedford will be diverted between East Croydon and London Blackfriars, and won't stop at London Bridge as a result

• Services that run between Horsham and Peterborough will be diverted between East Croydon and London Blackfriars, and won't stop at London Bridge as a result. These services will also stop additionally at Earlswood and Salfords in both directions

• Services that run between Brighton and Cambridge will be cancelled

• Services that run between Three Bridges and Bedford (stopping services via Redhill) will be cancelled

• Services that run between East Grinstead and Bedford will be cancelled

Please note that these amendments may be subject to change, and that other services not listed here may also be affected today.

If you do travel now, then you will likely need to use an alternative route instead. Please allow plenty of extra time for your journey. You may also need to change trains en route in order to complete your journey.

It is strongly advised you avoiding travelling to / from London Bridge - instead you should travel to / from London Victoria instead, using London Underground services to transfer between London Victoria and London Bridge.

Ticket acceptance

Tickets will be accepted for no extra cost on the following alternatives:

South of London

• Southern services via any reasonable route, including to / from London Victoria

• Gatwick Express services between Brighton, Gatwick Airport and London Victoria

• Thameslink services via any reasonable route

• Southeastern services between Tunbridge Wells and London

• London Buses between Redhill and East Croydon

• Metrobus routes between Horsham, Crawley and Three Bridges, and also between Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, Horley and Redhill

• Brighton & Hove Buses routes 28 / 29 between Lewes, Uckfield, Crowborough and Tunbridge Wells

  
  

Within London

• London Underground services via any reasonable route, including between London Bridge and London Victoria

• London Buses between East Croydon / Norwood Junction and London Bridge

North of London

• Thameslink and Great Northern services via any reasonable route

• East Midlands Railway between London St Pancras International, Luton Airport Parkway, Luton and Bedford

• Greater Anglia services between Cambridge and Ely, and also between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street for connections into central London

Planning your journey:

Live departure boards can be found here.

You can view a live map of the network here.

You can also see an alternative route guide here.

If you're travelling in the London area, you can plan journeys on alternative routes by using the TfL Journey Planner here.

For help planning your journey on Metrobus routes, you can use their website here.

If you wish to use Brighton & Hove bus routes, please see their website here.

You can also use our app to find up-to-date information.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

We have been advised of a significant fire affecting lineside cabling between Norwood Junction and London Bridge. This has resulted in several signalling failures and as such trains are unable to run in either direction between East Croydon / Norwood Junction and London Bridge (via Forest Hill / Sydenham) until further notice.

Network Rail colleagues are on site with the London Fire Brigade, who are working to extinguish the fire. Once the fire is out, specialist technicians will then be able to inspect, assess and fix any damage, but this is expected to take some time.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.