A lack of available vehicles means that a very limited rail replacement bus service will be in operation between Chichester and Havant this weekend.

Customer Advice

This weekend engineering work is taking place between Chichester and Portsmouth Harbour / Southampton Central, and bus operators have been unable to provide the usual amount of rail replacement vehicles.

A very limited bus service will operate and may involve you changing services at Havant to continue your journey.

Sunday 1 October:

No buses will be running from Chichester to Havant between 12:30 and 17:30, the following stations have no service:

• Chichester, Fishbourne, Bosham, Nutbourne, Southbourne, Emsworth and Warblington

 

It is advised that you to delay travelling between these times unless necessary. As you will not be able to travel on these routes using our services you will need to consider alternative travel arrangements for any essential journeys.

Customer options:

Staff are trying to arrange ticket acceptance with local bus routes. They are expected to be busy and not be able to carry all customers.

If you do choose to travel you may have to wait longer for a service or not be able to get on the first service of your choice.

Travelling during these times could take up to two hours longer than your normal route.

Checking your journey: 

Journey planners for Saturday 30 September will be updated tomorrow (Friday 29 September).

Journey planners for Sunday 1 October will be updated on Saturday 30 September.

Can you tell me more about the incident?

Southern work closely with Network Rail to plan for works taking place. Unfortunately, in this case the expected availability of rail replacement drivers is substantially less than anticipated. Along with the wider industry, Southern have seen a reduction in availability of rail replacement drivers in recent years.

Staff have explored cancelling the engineering work with Network Rail and other alternative journey options to provide a service, however we do not believe that wed be able to provide a full service and therefore have reached the decision to advise that there will not be one.

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.