London Victoria commuter chaos as train line from Brighton and Gatwick Airport suspended

‘Do not travel where possible,’ urges Gatwick Express

Hundreds of thousands of commuters have had their morning journeys wrecked by the complete closure of the main line from Brighton and Gatwick Airport to London Victoria – one of Britain’s busiest routes.

Problems began late on Wednesday night when the power supply to the signalling system failed at Streatham Common.

Network Rail said: “Engineers have been working throughout the night to rectify the signalling issue however this has been unsuccessful so far.

“Engineers will continue to work throughout the day with all available resources to resolve the fault.

“A generator has been sourced to isolate the power feed and is expected to arrive at the signalling centre later this morning. Once the generator arrives, the situation will be re-assessed.”

In a normal rush hour, up to 80 fast and stopping trains per hour would be running through the area.

But no trains are operating on the link from Clapham Junction to East Croydon. Some Southern trains are being diverted via Crystal Palace, but Balham, Streatham Common, Norbury, Thornton Heath and Selhurst stations are not being served at all.

All Gatwick Express services have been cancelled until further notice. The train operator tweeted: “Services are suspended due to total loss of power to Network Rail signalling system.

“Advise [sic] is do not travel where possible.”

The only rail link between the airport and the capital is an infrequent Thameslink service to London Bridge and St Pancras; the botched introduction of the new timetable means there are fewer trains on this line than there should be.

With over 125,000 passengers booked to fly in or out of Gatwick today, it is likely that thousands will miss flights. As many airport staff and flight crew also depend on rail travel, disruption could spread to aviation.

With trains and crews out of position, even when services on the line resume there are likely to be many delays and cancellations for the rest of the day.

Confusion was exacerbated by a tweet from National Rail Enquiries saying: “You are advised not [sic] travel via London Victoria this morning.”

But tens of thousands of passengers travelled normally on Southeastern services from southeast London, east Surrey and Kent to the terminus.