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

[SECR 65]

1Z01 has not left Gatwick, 37 mins after it was booked to. The PIS simply says 'delayed'.
EDIT: Now got the road....
... and now departed, 42L.

 

[sot]

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.

I was going to say, wasn't it recently (comparatively) that the entire thing was shut for works, with diversions of everything to East Grinstead.

 

[JonathanH]

I was going to say, wasn't it recently (comparatively) that the entire thing was shut for works, with diversions of everything to East Grinstead.

That was to do work further south at Stoats Nest Junction, and won't have necessarily covered this point on the route - also other places - see https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...closures-croydon-gatwick.294092/#post-7596632

 

[Jan Mayen]

Arrived at Clapham Junction from Havant. Just seen a train artive on P12 from East Grinstead. Looked full and standing.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...East Grinstead...

How easy is it to get from Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead on a Sunday? Hourly 400 bus taking 45 minutes if you're lucky and can get on the bus, then rail connections to/from Victoria?

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

I was going to say, wasn't it recently (comparatively) that the entire thing was shut for works, with diversions of everything to East Grinstead.

Yes earlier in the year for major works on Stoats Nest but thats several hundred yards away from the o/b.

Plenty of steel deck o/bs dont have sufficient ballast depth to allow full insertion of tamper tines and there supposed to reduce penetration depth. Given it looks like its just as you run off the bridge lintels its highly possible this got pinged years ago and corrosion has been taking place.

 

[Jim]

How easy is it to get from Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead on a Sunday? Hourly 400 bus taking 45 minutes if you're lucky and can get on the bus, then rail connections to/from Victoria?

The 400 even had some single decker action on it today too!

I opted for the train to Epsom, 460 to Gatwick, even though it was advertised as an option, hardly any takers, but far better than trying any of the other options.

I noticed at the start of it too, MB stepped up a Decker at Gatwick ex 500s that would normally go to the shed, to work 100s towards Redhill, taking the single decker off.

Very trying time for Metrobus I suspect. There was a queue of about 100 people waiting at the Northbound Service Bus stop at Gatwick when I was there about 1650.

 

[JonathanH]

How easy is it to get from Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead on a Sunday? Hourly 400 bus taking 45 minutes if you're lucky and can get on the bus, then rail connections to/from Victoria?

500 as well now, but only runs every two hours. 400 also goes to Caterham after Redhill (but the last one left a while ago).

However, the Metrobus service doesn't go into the evening, other than on the 100 to Redhill, and that is only twice an hour. A bus (or walk) to Horley for a replacement bus to Purley is an option.

 

[devon_belle]

Apparently some Victoria to Dorking services will continue to Horsham. I haven't seen any evidence of this except a comment on Southern's twitter.

 

[Royston Vasey]

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.

Thanks for this. I only have to go from Hove to South Cambs so have more options, including a last train from Kings Cross after midnight. I'm going to go all the way to PMH based on the alternative route suggestions of "any alternative Southern service" and "South Western Railway between Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo" to get a seat. Good luck!

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

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

A few animals boarded at Shoreham and cleared at West Worthing! Other than that, line clear!

 

[GordonT]

What is the prognosis for Peterborough-Horsham and Cambridge-Brighton services tomorrow? Usually the latter is binned in its entirety at the first whiff of trouble because either side of the core has alternatives.

 

[Jim]

What is the prognosis for Peterborough-Horsham and Cambridge-Brighton services tomorrow? Usually the latter is binned in its entirety at the first whiff of trouble because either side of the core has alternatives.

I am travelling to Gatwick tomorrow from Brighton, and have already elected to keep clear of the Cambridge service group for my plan!

 

[hwl]

Yes earlier in the year for major works on Stoats Nest but thats several hundred yards away from the o/b.

Plenty of steel deck o/bs dont have sufficient ballast depth to allow full insertion of tamper tines and there supposed to reduce penetration depth. Given it looks like its just as you run off the bridge lintels its highly possible this got pinged years ago and corrosion has been taking place.

The presence on the plastic guttering underneath visible on the photos and TAT line videos suggests that there have been water penetration issues there for a long time which won't help the corrosion.

 

[Hadders]

Feel for anyone caught up in this.

Being grateful for small mercies, the Thameslink core is closed today for engineering works so at least this hasn't stuffed up services north of London.

 

[Belperpete]

I got caught up in this, having arrived by plane about 1400. The only departures on the board were the RRBs to Guildford, and announcements that there would be no trains for the rest of the day, and passengers to make their own alternative arrangements. Horrendous queues at the local bus stops. I know that there was probably little else they could do, but what impression must it give the thousands of arriving foreign visitors.

I joined the queue for the RRB to Guildford. One elderly lady was trying to insist that she should have priority as she was booked to be on it "unlike all these other people".

 

[fkofilee]

How easy is it to get from Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead on a Sunday? Hourly 400 bus taking 45 minutes if you're lucky and can get on the bus, then rail connections to/from Victoria?

24 hour Route 500 now in play also.

 

[JonathanH]

24 hour Route 500 now in play also.

Yes, but it only runs every two hours on Sundays.

 

[devon_belle]

Southern now reporting they expect the repairs to be completed tonight. So that's good news.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Passing through Havant and the London bound platform is rammed!

 

[brad465]

If there is an award for "worst place for an infrastructure failure to occur", this must be right up there.

 

[Belperpete]

If there is an award for "worst place for an infrastructure failure to occur", this must be right up there.

And worse time!

 

[Surreytraveller]

And worse time!

It would have been much worse had it not been a Sunday. But then the defect would not have been noticed had it not been a Sunday

 

[MrJeeves]

Another image was posted by Network Rail Kent & Sussex on Twitter, which does show the extent of the "sinkhole" (as described by them). The sleepers are shown as not being supported by any ballast.

Following the discovery of sinkholes on a bridge outside of Purley, we had to close the railway between Purley and East Croydon, affecting journeys to Gatwick Airport

Sink holes were spotted on the bridge, meaning that ballast, the stones that the track sits on, was falling through the gap, making the track unstable

We've since carried out a thorough inspection of the bridge and are working to safely plug the gaps so that trains can safely run again

We're sorry for the disruption this has caused to passengers in the meantime

Network Rail Kent & Sussex (@NetworkRailSE) on X

Following the discovery of sinkholes on a bridge outside of Purley, we had to close the railway between Purley and East Croydon, affecting journeys to Gatwick Airport Sink holes were spotted on the bridge, meaning that ballast, the stones that the track sits on, was falling through the gap, making…

x.com

 

[brad465]

Not a million miles away, a road sinkhole in Godstone has shut the road through there for around 18 months, and is only just about to reopen. I hope Network Rail don't take anywhere near that long in this instance.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Feel for anyone caught up in this.

Being grateful for small mercies, the Thameslink core is closed today for engineering works so at least this hasn't stuffed up services north of London.

Very true. The Peterborough service doesn't run through the core on Sundays anyway, but the Cambridge and Bedford/Luton services also escaped this disruption thanks to the core being closed. Once I finally got the other side of London I was able to use a Cambridge service to return to Hitchin for the last bus of the day back home (better option than walking home from Arlesey at nearly 8pm).

Passing through Havant and the London bound platform is rammed!

I chose the right time to make the move to Havant to get back to London. The Portsmouth-bound service I used from Brighton, the 1430, wasn't heavily loaded, at least until we got to Barnham (London-bound passengers from the Portsmouth & Bognor train that started from Three Bridges joined our train at Barnham to get to Havant), and while the platform at Havant did fill up quite a lot when we got there, the SWR service to Waterloo was nowhere near full-and-standing when we departed Havant.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Not a million miles away, a road sinkhole in Godstone has shut the road through there for around 18 months, and is only just about to reopen. I hope Network Rail don't take anywhere near that long in this instance.

This is not remotely anything like that that is an underground geolgy problem this is a steel decked overbridge which appears to have sufferred some corrosion issues but readily fixed.

 

[SECR 65]

The down fast looks to have reopened. 5Z01 has just traversed it.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

3rd rail cant help matters!

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The down fast looks to have reopened. 5Z01 has just traversed it.

1F57 now has the road from Gatwick.

Given the hole was on the Redhills by all accounts you have to wonder whether it was an over reaction and its taken this long to get a senior structures engineer out to assess the issue.

 

[MrJeeves]

Given the hole was on the Redhills by all accounts you have to wonder whether it was an over reaction and its taken this long to get a senior structures engineer out to assess the issue.

I know I would rather assume the worst than have the bridge fall down, or a train derail.

If one part of the bridge has failed, they should be sure that no other parts have failed in a similar way, or are about to fail.