London Victoria: Points failure as services suspended including to Gatwick Airport
London Victoria was forced to cancel key routes including to Gatwick Airport following a points failure just outside the hub.
One of the capital’s busiest routes was hit by crippling suspensions today, with Southern Rail announcing the disruption at about half-past four on Tuesday morning.
Southern said the signalling system is “generally managed by Network Rail”, and that the delays “will affect trains at a number of stations across South London, including Clapham Junction, as well as our coastal routes”.
Clapham Junction is the busiest in the country for interchanges, with 17 platforms.
It said: “A points failure has occurred outside London Victoria station. Some lines are closed, trains are unable to run in/out of platform 8-11 until further notice.”
It said just after midday, that “services on all Southern routes to & from London Victoria will start to be reduced from 20.00.”
“It is advised that you complete your journey before 22.00 where possible. From 23.00 there will be no Southern services from London Victoria at all.”
By 3pm, services were still suspended, with routes between London and Sutton, Epsom, on the Gatwick Express, and to Brighton, all remained down.
Posting on X, the network said; “Disruption is expected until the end of today, engineers will go in and work to rectify the points problem.”
“Please allow up to an extra 20 minutes of time to complete your journey, especially if you are using an alternative route.”
In its most recent update, it warned any commuters that did brave the rails, they should “expect trains to be much busier than usual” while offering compensation and travel alternative options.