Disruption to / from London Victoria expected until the end of the day

A points failure at London Victoria is causing disruption to journeys running to and from this station.

As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer advice:

A points failure has been reported just outside of London Victoria, and this is preventing some services from running until further notice.

In this particular instance, it is affecting trains on the following routes;

• Gatwick Express services which run from London Victoria to Brighton are suspended.
• Southern services which run from London Victoria to Sutton are suspended.
• Southern services which run from London Victoria to Epsom are suspended.

 

To see if your journey is affected, please see the live map here.

You can also use your ticket at no extra cost to travel on:

• Southern / Thameslink services via any reasonable route
• South Western Railway services between Queenstown Road (Battersea) and Clapham Junction / London Waterloo
• London Underground services via any reasonable route
• London Buses between London Victoria and Epsom and surrounding areas

 

Please note that these alternatives may extend your journey time by up to an additional 10-20 minutes.

Please remember to check journey planners and station information boards, and allow extra time to reach your destination.

For alternative route maps, and for help planning your journey, see here.

For help planning your journey on London Underground, please see TfL's journey planner here.

More information to follow in due course.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Points are moveable sections of track which can send trains onto different routes at junctions. These are part of the signalling system, generally managed by Network Rail.

Points can stop moving correctly for a number of reasons. For example, there may be an obstruction in the moving parts, or the electronic control systems may have developed a fault.

There are various backup systems which allow signallers to try to "set" the points, and in some cases, the points may be available for trains in one of the directions they serve, but not another. However, with more severe failures like this one, the route is blocked entirely.

Network Rail have sent their specialist Signalling and Telecoms teams to site as a priority, and they will set up a safe method of working on the track. As soon as it's safe to go on the line, they will diagnose the fault and find any quick solutions to resolve it.

Whilst this is being done, staff will be monitoring progress closely. At times, replacement parts may be needed, or specialist advice from suppliers, which is why some points failures take longer to resolve than others.

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.