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Trains into London Bridge cancelled after hole found under track More pain for Southern passengers after hole found under track at Forest Hill
(about 5 hours later)
A hole under a railway line in south-east London has caused travel misery for commuters for the second time in less than three weeks. The summer of pain for Southern rail passengers plunged to fresh depths after a new hole was discovered under rail tracks, cutting off many services to London.
Lines running into London Bridge station were closed on Thursday “as a safety measure” and services cancelled after the discovery of the 30cm hole at Forest Hill. Passengers were advised to avoid London Bridge on Thursday evening as trains were cancelled or diverted while Network Rail performed repairs in Forest Hill, south-east London.
It comes after another hole appeared in the same area on 18 July, also shutting down lines into London Bridge and causing major delays. The hole is the second in the month to appear in Southern’s tracks, further hindering the operation of Britain’s most disrupted train service.
Rail operator Southern warned customers it expected disruption in the area until 6pm on Thursday. Southern and Thameslink passengers were advised to use either Victoria or Blackfriars station, while Southern tickets were being accepted on London buses, tubes and tram services.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “At around 3am this morning we were alerted to a small hole, around 30cm across, which appeared on the railway in the Forest Hill area. Southern’s chaos on Thursday was compounded by a signal failure in Littlehampton, that saw some of the operator’s coastal services suspended until early evening.
“Our engineers are on site assessing the damage and carrying out repairs. We offer our apologies to passengers travelling to London through the area this morning as their journey will be disrupted.” Talks were continuing at Acas, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, on Thursday to avert five days of strikes starting on Monday 8 August, called by the RMT union in its long-running dispute with Southern over the role of conductors on trains.
The hole meant Southern services towards London Bridge were unable to stop at Norwood Junction, Anerley, Penge West, Sydenham, Forest Hill, Honor Oak Park, Brockley and New Cross Gate. London Overground services were also affected between New Cross Gate and Crystal Palace/West Croydon. A litany of problems at Southern have been intensified by the dispute, which looked set to worsen this week as two more unions, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) and Aslef, said they would ballot station staff and drivers for a strike.
Thameslink trains from Brighton into London were only able to run as far as Gatwick airport. Southern had expected to run 60% of its trains next week, should the RMT strike go ahead. Currently it only attempts to runs about 85% of its trains on what was billed as a temporary, emergency timetable – although bosses admitted this week that there is no prospect of normal service being reinstated before September.
A Southern spokesman said: “Some services have been cancelled. Others may be delayed or diverted away from London Bridge. Disruption is expected until 6pm.” But even the reduced timetable has proved impossible for Southern to operate effectively: on Wednesday, pre-hole, only seven in 10 of the remaining trains on the mainline operated near schedule, and only one in three arrived at the correct time.