Disruption at Fareham expected until 19:00 

Route(s) affected

Great Western Railway between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth Harbour

Southern between Southampton Central and Brighton

South Western Railway between London Waterloo and Fareham / Portsmouth Harbour, and also between Southampton Central and Portsmouth & Southsea

Description

A signalling problem at Fareham is causing disruption to journeys running through this station.

As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes, revised or diverted.

Disruption is expected to continue until 19:00.

Customer advice:

Great Western Railway

Rail replacement transport has been requested to operate, and more information will be provided once known.

For further information or onward travel advice, please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point.

You may use your ticket on the following services:

• First Bus X4 & X5 between Fareham - Southampton Central

• First Bus 28A between Fareham - Swanwick

• Bluestar 3 between Southampton - Bitterne - Hedge End - Botley - Eastleigh

• Bluestar 7 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing

• Bluestar 10 between Southampton - Woolston - Bitterne - Sholing

• Bluestar 13 between Southampton - Woolston - Bitterne

• Bluestar 14 between Southampton - Bitterne - Hedge End

• Bluestar 15 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing - Netley - Hamble

• Bluestar 16 between Southampton and Bitterne

• Bluestar 18 between Southampton and Bitterne

• Bluestar 19 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing

• Bluestar 20 between Southampton - St Denys - Bitterne

Southern

Southern services are unable to run to / from Southampton until further notice. Services will instead be diverted to and from Portsmouth Harbour.

Please delay your journey until later today, once the line has reopened. At present, there isn't an estimate for when this will be.

If you do travel now then your journey will take much longer than usual and you will likely need to use an alternative route. Please note that alternatives in the local area are very limited. Journeys will take longer than normal, so allow plenty of extra time - it is advised that you leave at least an extra 30 minutes.

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

• South Western Railway services between Southampton and Clapham Junction / London Waterloo. Please note, a limited number of these services are now running via a diversionary route, but are still being affected by this incident

• Great Western Railway services between Portsmouth and Southampton. Please note, a limited number of these services are now running via a diversionary route, but are still being affected by this incident

• London Underground on any reasonable route, including between London Terminals

• The following local bus routes:

  • Bluestar bus route 3 between Southampton and Eastleigh

  • Bluestar bus routes 7 and 10 between Southampton, Woolston and Sholing

  • Bluestar bus routes 13, 15 and 19 between Southampton and Woolston

  • First Bus routes X4 and X5 between Fareham and Southampton Central

  • First Bus route 28A between Fareham and Swanwick

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.

South Western Railway

In addition to this, the lines between Southampton Central and Fareham via Netley may also have to run at a reduced speed through the Fareham area.

To assist you with your journey your ticket will be accepted, at no extra cost to yourself, on the following services:

• First Bus routes X4 and X5 between Fareham - Southampton Central

• First Bus route 28A between Fareham - Swanwick

• Bluestar bus route 3 between Southampton - Bitterne - Hedge End - Botley - Eastleigh

• Bluestar bus route 7 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing

• Bluestar bus route 10 between Southampton - Woolston - Bitterne - Sholing

• Bluestar bus route 13 between Southampton - Woolston - Bitterne

• Bluestar bus route 14 between Southampton - Bitterne - Hedge End

• Bluestar bus route 15 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing - Netley - Hamble

• Bluestar bus route 16 between Southampton and Bitterne

• Bluestar bus route 18 between Southampton and Bitterne

• Bluestar bus route 19 between Southampton - Woolston - Sholing

• Bluestar bus route 20 between Southampton - St Denys - Bitterne

For further information or onward travel advice, please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A track circuit failure is affecting trains travelling in both directions on the route between Fareham and Southampton.

This part of the network uses track circuits to detect the position of trains. These are electrical systems which monitor whether a train is on a section of track. They operate as part of the signalling system, which is designed to be "fail safe".

When a track circuit fails, the signalling system will interpret this as a train remaining in place, even though there may not be a train present at all, or the previous service may have long since left the area.

As a result, further trains cannot be automatically allowed onto the relevant section of track. Train drivers will be stopped by red signals on approach. They will then get verbal permission from the signaller so that they can proceed, and will run at a heavily-reduced speed as far as the next signal. This is so that the drivers will stop safely if they see anything ahead of them.

In some areas, the sections between signals can be several miles long, so this can result in delays building up. Even with shorter sections of track affected, there would still be a delay of at least a few minutes to each journey.

Track circuit faults can be caused by a number of different issues, including electronic faults or obstructions on the track. Network Rail manage the signalling system, including track circuits, and their staff will be investigating as quickly as possible.

Check before you travel:

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

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility information, please use our travel information pages.

You can find the location of your replacement bus by checking station signs or by searching for your station on our station information pages.

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.