A fault with the signalling system at East Croydon means that trains running through this station may be delayed by up to 20 minutes, cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until 16:00.

Customer advice:

Trains that run through East Croydon towards London may be delayed of up to 20 minutes. Some services that travel through East Croydon will need to cross over to other platforms so you may be held just outside East Croydon until the platform is free - if you are on board and your train is being held, please remain on board and listen to announcements.

South Croydon and Purley will also have a reduced service in the direction towards London.

Service changes:

• Gatwick Express services have been suspended - Please use alternate Southern and Thameslink services to travel to and from Gatwick Airport
• Southern London Victoria to Reigate services have been reduced to 1 train per hour
• Thameslink Three Bridges to Bedford services will not call at South Croydon and Purley in the direction of London - Please use alternate Southern services to complete your journey to these locations

Please allow extra time to complete your journey this morning and ensure you check before you travel.

Planning your journey:

Live departure boards can be found here.

If you're travelling in the London area, you can plan journeys on alternative routes by using the Transport for London Journey Planner here.

You can also view alternate travel advice here if you do require making a change

You can also use the Southern and Thameslink apps to find up-to-date information.

Ticket acceptance:

You can use your ticket on the following, at no extra cost:

• Alternative Southern and Thameslink services between Gatwick and London
• Great Western Railway services between Redhill and Reigate
• London Trams between Beckenham and Wimbledon
• London Buses between Croydon and central London
• London Overground between Clapham Junction and New Cross Gate / Canada Water

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Trains are likely to have some delays due to a fault with a signal in this area. In this case, the signal has been reported to be switching rapidly between different colours and not showing a steady indication to drivers. This means drivers have to stop at the preceding signal and gain verbal instructions to continue. Your journey will unfortunately take longer as a result.

Railway signals are designed to warn drivers that they have to stop because the system can't yet confirm that the route ahead is clear. In most places, the signalling system will show a green light, or aspect, when the track is clear for a long distance ahead, and drivers will then be shown one or two yellow lights to warn them when they are approaching a red signal. This means that they can anticipate the amount of braking that's required to stop before they reach another train or any form of problem on the line. In this case, as the signal isn't reliably showing the necessary indications to drivers, they'll need to take extra safety precautions to travel through the area.

The signalling system is maintained by Network Rail, and we're working closely with them to diagnose the fault and make sure it is fixed as quickly as possible. Until this is done, teams will be closely monitoring the train service and doing our best to keep to the timetable.

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.