Sussex travel: Train line closed all day between Arundel and Barnham following incident

Southern Rail reported a ‘points failure’, meaning all lines were closed – and remained shut all day.

Trains running between Arundel and Barnham were cancelled or diverted.

A Southern spokesperson added: “There has been a points failure at Arundel this morning, with a damaged section of the points being identified.

"Currently, this means that it is not safe for trains to run on the section of line between Barnham and Arundel.”

‘Where possible’, these services operated between Arundel and London but there were no direct services between Portsmouth / Southampton and London.

‘The line will be blocked all day’

Network Rail took to social media to apologise and update passengers.

“We're really sorry for the disruption Southern Rail passengers are facing today on the Arun Valley line between Barnham and Arundel,” a spokesperson said.

"We've had a failure on this section of points, the moveable sections of track which let us move trains from one line to another.

"Unfortunately, the line will be blocked all day as it would be even more disruptive to fix it now as that would mean blocking both lines. So we plan to go in overnight when trains aren't running to fix the problem.

“Doing it this way is the best worst option for passengers because it means we can divert some trains around the fault. Please check with Southern Rail for the latest advice.”

Network Rail were due to carry out emergency engineering works overnight to fix the points.

From 10.30pm, lines were closed between Barnham and West Worthing/Arundel in both directions.

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What were the contingency measures?

Replacement buses were running between Barnham and Arundel and passengers were asked to speak to station staff for assistance.

People travelling to London from Chichester / Bognor Regis, were advised to take a train service along the coast via Hove, or change at Brighton for an alternative London-bound service.

“Please note that using an alternative route will extend your journey time by up to 40 minutes,” a spokesperson added.

“Your ticket will be accepted, at no extra cost, on the following; Southern and Thameslink are accepting each other's tickets; South Western Railway services between Southampton/Portsmouth and London and London Underground services between London Terminals.”​