Disruption between Purley and East Croydon expected until 11:00 

Route(s) affected

Gatwick Express between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria

Southern between between Ore / Portsmouth Harbour / Bognor Regis / Littlehampton / Brighton / Horsham / Three Bridges / Reigate and London Victoria, between Eastbourne / Caterham and London Bridge, and also between Tattenham Corner and Purley

Thameslink between Brighton / Horsham / Three Bridges and London Bridge, between Brighton / Gatwick Airport and Finsbury Park, between Brighton / Horsham / Three Bridges and Bedford, and also between Brighton and Cambridge

Description

A fault with the signalling system between Purley and East Croydon means some lines are disrupted. Services running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Disruption is expected until 11:00.

Customer advice:

A fault with the signalling system in the Purley Oaks are means that the following service amendments will apply:

• Services that run between Caterham and London Bridge may run between Caterham and Purley only

• Services that run between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon / London may experience delays in the Purley area. This is affecting services running in both directions

• Some short notice alterations and cancellations are possible, affecting services that run between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon / London

Please check your journey before you travel this morning and allow some extra time for your journey. For most journeys, you can travel using your normal route but you may need to change trains en-route.

Tickets will be accepted for no extra cost on London Buses routes between Caterham and East Croydon.

You can check if your journey will be affected using the live route map here.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

A track circuit failure is affecting trains travelling in both directions on the route between Gatwick Airport / Purley and East Croydon / London.

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. We're closely monitoring progress updates.

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.