Sussex railway delays after emergency incident - 'Power switched off'

Southern Rail reported at 3pm that emergency services were dealing with an incident between Brighton and Lewes and 'all lines are currently blocked'.

The social media statement read: "Power in the area has been switched off at this time.

"If you are on a train that is not yet in a platform, please remain onboard and wait for further instructions from onboard staff.

"Whilst power in the area is switched off, ticket acceptance is in place with Brighton and Hove buses between Brighton, Lewes and Eastbourne at no extra cost.

"You may need to use an alternative route to complete your journey today, or travel later instead."

Affected passengers were permitted to use their ticket on Southern & Thameslink services 'via any reasonable route', including for travel via Haywards Heath (changing there for services to/from Eastbourne and Ore).

In an update at 3.40pm, Southern wrote: "All services are now on the move in the area.

"Some services have been delayed by up to 40 minutes through the area.

"If your planned train is cancelled then you may need to wait for the next available service, change trains en route or use an alternative route instead."