Major Disruption through Purley 14/06/2026. Structural problem with rail bridge

[philosopher]

Yes, well that demonstrates the dominance of the railway in the Gatwick Airport transport market, and the risk of a single point of failure.

Gatwick is my most convenient airport (excluding City that has limited flights), but situations like this make me wary of using it. Luton, Stansted and Heathrow have more feasible back up options if something goes badly wrong on the trains. Luton and Stansted have good coach links, while Heathrow has the Piccadilly line to London. Gatwick is limited to a few coaches that go via Heathrow or relying on local buses to get to another station.

Realistically many passengers would have no choice but to use very expensive taxis or ride shares to get to the airport in sufficient time to catch their flight in these situations.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

EXCITING DEVELOPMENT REGARDING TRAIN SERVICES

1Z00 1620 London Victoria to Gatwick Airport 1734 via Sutton

Taken a while but fantastic to see them teeing this up

 

[SECR 65]

VSTP Horsham - Gatwick TLs have been put in for the rest of traffic - might not be good news.....

 

[devon_belle]

1Z00 1620 London Victoria to Gatwick Airport 1734 via Sutton

Very good.

1B45 also going via Sutton just passing Holmwood. Left Horsham 3L so will see how well it performs. It's got a pretty clear run unless 2I45 goes out in front.

Edit: 2I45 was held a few minutes to let 1B45 out. Good job signaller. Unfortunately 2D50 may get in the way now!

 

[Jan Mayen]

Travelling Three Bridges to Teddington via Clapham Junction. Told that there weren't any drivers who had route knowledge for the back road via Dorking, so glad to see they've found some.
Took the 1422 as far as Chichester, where it terminated due to late running.
Now at Havant, awaiting a train to Clapham Junction.
Fortunately, I happen to have a First Class All Line Rover, so I've no worries about being challenged.
I wonder how much (if anything) I'll get in delay repay?

 

[SECR 65]

I fear lack of stock could put a stop to the Victoria Gatwick via Suttons at least in the short term. There's very little left at Victoria at this stage. Hopefully some stock can be found somewhere. As mentioned route knowlegde is also an issue.

No sign of a 1Z02 to follow up the first one, but we do now have 1Z01 going to do the route in the other direction, leaving Gatwick at 17:50.

Control are doing an excellent job south of Gatwick - almost a full service is now in operation between Gatwick and the coast.

 

[Aaron2004]

I fear lack of stock could put a stop to the Victoria Gatwick via Suttons at least in the short term. There's very little left at Victoria at this stage. Hopefully some stock can be found somewhere. As mentioned route knowlegde is also an issue.

No sign of a 1Z02 to follow up the first one, but we do now have 1Z01 going to do the route in the other direction, leaving Gatwick at 17:50.

Control are doing an excellent job south of Gatwick - almost a full service is now in operation between Gatwick and the coast.

Indeed, I've been told by Southern that there is normal service south of Gatwick on the Coastway routes for both the remainder of today and tomorrow.

 

[devon_belle]

Speculative, but if the engineers confirm the bridge itself is safe then at least the Redhill lines should be reopened tomorrow. If there is a more serious defect which keeps those closed as well then we are in for a very long week indeed.

 

[sot]

Which side is the image taken from?

 

[Mattplans]

It will be interesting to see what they are able to organise for tomorrow in terms of direct Victoria - Gatwick links.

 

[Russel]

So, when did structural failures become known as sinkholes?

 

[SECR 65]

It will be interesting to see what they are able to organise for tomorrow in terms of direct Victoria - Gatwick links.

Hopefully they can run some trains via Sutton. However, they will be short of platforms at Gatwick potentially. Also, there is not the stock or crew to run every train via Sutton given the extended journey time. The line via Sutton does not have the capacity to do this anyway. At a guess, if the bridge is condemned, it'll be a 2tph shuttle Gatwick to Victoria. Maybe enhanced East Grinstead service with RRBs?

I think this evening at present they only have one train (i.e. one set of stock) (be that due to stock, paths, or crew) that is working Vic-Gatwick via Sutton.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Travelling Three Bridges to Teddington via Clapham Junction. Told that there weren't any drivers who had route knowledge for the back road via Dorking, so glad to see they've found some.
Took the 1422 as far as Chichester, where it terminated due to late running.
Now at Havant, awaiting a train to Clapham Junction.
Fortunately, I happen to have a First Class All Line Rover, so I've no worries about being challenged.
I wonder how much (if anything) I'll get in delay repay?

This was several years ago, but when I was delayed by a little over an hour when travelling on a first class 7-day ALR with LNER they gave me 5% of the ALR's value back as delay repay (worked out to around £38 at the time IIRC)

 

[devon_belle]

At a guess, if the bridge is condemned, it'll be a 2tph shuttle Gatwick to Victoria.

With Dorking to Horsham bustituted because the line cannot support 2 tph fast as well as the usual stopper.

So, when did structural failures become known as sinkholes?

Good point, no official sources have used this term, I was just going off what the original news post said on Twitter.

 

[Russel]

Good point, no official sources have used this term, I was just going off what the original news post said on Twitter.

Fair enough, it seems sinkhole has become a bit of a 'catch all' phrase.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Well at least it’s not load bearing. Is that those old fibre packing pads being used to fill the gap between the metalwork and the brickwork?

Below is a screenshot from a 2024 cab ride

Up Fast is the LH track. The hole is potentially a filler panel on the side beam which would be their to prevent ballast falling to the underneath of the bridge which has corroded rather than a structural member of the ballast deck. Structures will have an on call engineer who should have got there by now but if there calling it to the end of the day they clearly want rectification before allowing traffic to run.



Assuming this is the o/b across the TATs that looks like corrosion of the steel decking

 

[SECR 65]

The first Victoria - Gatwick via Sutton train, 1Z00, is nearly at Horsham, almost 30 mins late. I think it will then return to Victoria as 1Z01.

1B49 has been sent towards Three Bridges, rather than round to Victoria.
EDIT: It's gone into Horsham plat 1. At a guess it's going to be turned short there. I'm being silly forgot it had to reverse.

 

[ox_chap]

I wonder how the problem was found in the first place? Lurch sideways reported by a Brighton driver? Or a Tattenham Corner driver reporting going over ballast fallen on the rails?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Taken a while but fantastic to see them teeing this up

I think they need to deal with the trains which should be running before they can start looking at running extras

 

[devon_belle]

The first Victoria - Gatwick via Sutton train, 1Z00, is nearly at Horsham, almost 30 mins late. I think it will then return to Victoria as 1Z01.

Timed quite tightly at 50 minutes London to Horsham. It departed Victoria 18L and lost more time following SWR after Epsom. I seem to recall SWR get priority on that stretch.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

I wonder how the problem was found in the first place? Lurch sideways reported by a Brighton driver? Or a Tattenham Corner driver reporting going over ballast fallen on the rails?

Heres the view of the bridge from the TATs and its quite possible that a driver on this line observed ballast which looked out of place. MOM called out and presumably sees the hole in the pictures posted above and has the line blocked until structures engineer attends. As you can see its a substantial bridge with a central support and easily inspected from underneath.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I'm in Hove and preparing to travel to London via Portsmouth Harbour into Waterloo

 

[cryptus]

I wonder how the problem was found in the first place? Lurch sideways reported by a Brighton driver? Or a Tattenham Corner driver reporting going over ballast fallen on the rails?

Was a member of staff working within the engineering possession that noticed the hole initially.

 

[devon_belle]

I'm in Hove and preparing to travel to London via Portsmouth Harbour into Waterloo

Hopefully they've cleared the animals at Goring by now.

 

[takno]

Not a huge amount to see at the minute. Half a dozen people on the bridge. Don't know if they're looking at the hole or working on the original possession

 

[Jan Mayen]

Hopefully they've cleared the animals at Goring by now.

That's no way to refer to passengers waiting for a train......

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2026 ==

M

This was several years ago, but when I was delayed by a little over an hour when travelling on a first class 7-day ALR with LNER they gave me 5% of the ALR's value back as delay repay (worked out to around £38 at the time IIRC)

Many thanks. At present, I'm on a tour of South West London. Just gone through Virginia Water.

 

[devon_belle]

That's no way to refer to passengers waiting for a train......

I guess you haven't been to Goring recently then

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2026 ==

Ticket acceptance has been confirmed for tomorrow, but Southern have said they still don't know if services will be disrupted tomorrow.

 

[pepperpot80]

Some observations (was on the 16:00 Brighton - Havant and now on the 17:50 Havant - Waterloo, aiming for Leeds tonight)...

• Brighton station staff were very clear that Havant was the only option for getting north of Gatwick
• The coastway service was very busy but not completely packed, although I can easily expect that services will end up full and standing
• The café at Havant is closed so there are no refreshments on route - but there is an off-licence nearby at Havant (3-4 mins walk)
• SWR onboard staff are aware of the ticket acceptance, so no issues in that regard - accepted my Brighton - St Pancras (route not underground) single without question
• While the SWR service is a 10 car (2 x class 444), it has ended up being full from Haslemere, so the SWR onboard staff have declassified 1st class - gives you an idea how busy the service is.
• The sting in the tail is that the SWR services are diverted after Woking via Barnes, so we're due into London at 19:35, for a total 3h35 run from Brighton.

 

[pieswick]

Anecdotally; Hastings to London service incredibly busy (standing room only would be generous, passengers left at Orpington), and no air con!

 

[MrJeeves]

Which side is the image taken from?

I think the photo looking down at the hole is from the Redhill lines rather than the quarry lines, but the concern is that it might compromise the integrity of the trackbed? I believe the quarry lines had new ballast installed and tamped around this area fairly recently, while the photos look like older ballast.

This could stack up with it first being spotted by staff working on the Redhill lines possession.

Of course, I'm guessing and don't know for sure though.