A safety inspection of the track between London Victoria and Balham means some lines towards Balham are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised to not call at Battersea Park or Wandsworth Common. Disruption is expected until 12:30.

Customer Advice

Whilst Network Rail carry out a safety inspection of the track, southbound services from London Victoria will be unable to stop at either Battersea Park or Wandsworth Common.

This means that:

• Battersea Park will not have any services stopping that are travelling towards Balham, Epsom Downs, West Croydon or London Bridge.
• Wandsworth Common will not have any services stopping there that are travelling towards Balham, Epsom Downs or London Bridge.

 

If travelling to or from Battersea Park or Wandsworth Common, please check your journey before you travel. You may need to use an alternative route or change trains in order to complete your journey. You can check if your journey will be affected using the live route map here.

The following travel advice applies to affected journeys:

Travel to / from Battersea Park:

• We would advise that you use South Western Railway services to/from Queenstown Road instead, which is a 3 minute walk away from Battersea Park.

 

Travel to / from Wandsworth Common:​​​​​​​

• If travelling to Wandsworth Common on a train towards Epsom Downs/London Bridge, you should stay on the train until Balham and alight there instead. You can then take a train back to Wandsworth Common or alternatively you can walk, which would take about 12 minutes.
• If you are at Wandsworth Common and require a service towards Epsom Downs or London Bridge, we'd advise taking the train to Clapham Junction instead and changing there. Alternatively, you can walk to Balham, which would take about 12 minutes.  

 

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

• South Western Railway services between Queenstown Road Battersea and Clapham Junction
• London Buses between London Victoria, Battersea, Clapham Junction and Wandsworth.

 

For help planning your alternative route you can use the alternative route maps here.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Network Rail are investigating reports of a possible track defect in the Wandsworth Common area. They've taken a "line block" on the affected line until approximately 12.15, which means that one of the southbound lines is blocked. Services can run using different lines but this does mean they can't stop at Battersea Park or Wandsworth Common during this time.

Check before you travel:
You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

Twitter:
If you would like to follow this incident on Twitter, please use #Balham

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.