| Good afternoon, I am getting in touch with some information about forthcoming engineering works that will affect trains on the Brighton Main Line route on a number of weekends in the coming months. The planned closures are part of Network Rail’s ongoing routine maintenance programme to ensure that the infrastructure along the line remains reliable and safe. The main impacts are as follows: Sunday 30 November The Brighton Main Line will be closed between Brighton, Hove or Lewes and Gatwick Airport, as well as between Horsham and Gatwick Airport. Replacement buses will be running along the closed sections. In addition, a diverted Southern train service will run between Brighton and London Victoria via Littlehampton and Horsham. Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 January 2026 Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 January 2026 Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 January 2026 The Brighton Main Line will be closed between Gatwick Airport and Purley / East Croydon, as well as its branches between Reigate and Redhill and between Redhill and Tonbridge on these three weekends in January. In addition, on each of the Sundays of these weekends there will also be no trains between Tattenham Corner or Caterham and Purley. Replacement buses will be in operation along most of the sections where trains are not running. Buses will also be running to link Three Bridge or Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead from where frequent trains will be running in and out of central London via East Croydon. In addition, a train service will run between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria using a diversionary route, calling at Clapham Junction. Sunday 1 February 2026 Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 March 2026 Sunday 10 May 2026 On these weekends. the Brighton Main Line will be closed between Brighton / Lewes / Hove and Three Bridges. Replacement buses will be running along the closed sections. A diverted train service will also operate between Brighton and London Victoria via Hove, Littlehampton and Horsham. There is more detailed information about these upcoming closures in the briefing below this email. Customer advice On all of these dates, journeys will take longer than usual so we will be advising customers to plan ahead and allow additional time, especially if heading to the Airport to catch a flight. Journey planners such as national rail generally show the amended service plans from 12 weeks in advance. We have created dedicated pages about the works on our Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express websites that provides information for customers on the upcoming closures, as well as a look-ahead to the dates in slightly longer term through the spring. More details about the specific service plans will be added to these pages as we get nearer to each closure. It is also worth noting that this email and our webpages mentioned above refer to weekend closures affecting the trunk Brighton Main Line route. It is very important to remember there may be other closures taking place late at night or early mornings, as well as on other parts of the network, that could also affect journeys. We therefore always recommend checking our planned works calendars on Southern and Thameslink websites for any impacts to journeys and checking before you travel at the national rail website. We would appreciate your help in sharing this information on your own channels to encourage customers to check before they travel over the impacted weekends. As always, do let us know if you have any questions. Kind regards, Ben Ben Thomas
Special Projects Communications Manager
Govia Thameslink Railway Contact the GTR stakeholder team at: GTRPublicAffairs@gtrailway.com BRIEFING Overview The Brighton Main Line is one of the busiest rail routes in the entire country. It is used by most or all of our Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services running between London and Gatwick Airport, parts of Surrey, and much of Sussex including Brighton & Hove. The route is used by hundreds of trains a day and sees intensive use, with tracks, signals and other infrastructure requiring ongoing maintenance to keep them safe and reliable. Most of this work is done overnight when there are fewer or no trains running, but there are times when larger pieces of work require the line to be closed for longer, to give our partners at Network Rail the access they need to carry out this work safely. We know there is never a good time to close the railway, but the work on the Brighton Main Line is planned to avoid the busiest times of the year, such as the summer when large numbers of people travel to or from the south coast or Gatwick Airport. This means that weekend closures on this part of the network are generally timed to be confined to the autumn, winter and early spring as far as possible. Upcoming closures Sunday 30 November All lines closed between Brighton / Lewes / Hove / Horsham and Gatwick Airport No trains will run between: • Brighton and Gatwick Airport • Hove and Gatwick Airport • Lewes and Gatwick Airport • Horsham and Gatwick Airport Replacement buses will run between: • Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport • Brighton and Three Bridges • Horsham and Three Bridges • Lewes / Cooksbridge / Plumpton and Haywards Heath and Three Bridges A diverted Southern train service will run between Brighton and London Victoria calling at Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Angmering, Littlehampton, Horsham and Clapham Junction. If customers are travelling between the Brighton area and London, they are strongly advised to use this train service rather than the limited replacement bus service. Please also be aware that if travelling by replacement bus between Brighton / Lewes / Haywards Heath / Horsham and Gatwick Airport, customers will need to change buses at Three Bridges for a shuttle bus service between Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport. Journey Planners have been updated to include the amended service plan. To facilitate the safe operation of replacement buses, the station car park at Three Bridges will be closed from 22:00 on Friday 28 November until 23:59 on Sunday 30 November. Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 January 2026 Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 January 2026 Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 January 2026 All lines closed between Gatwick Airport and Purley / East Croydon No trains will run on any routes between: • Gatwick Airport and East Croydon / Purley • Reigate and Redhill • Redhill and Tonbridge • Purley and Caterham on Sundays only (trains will run on Saturdays) • Purley and Tattenham Corner on Sundays only (trains will run on Saturdays) Replacement buses will run between: • East Grinstead and Gatwick Airport • East Grinstead and Three Bridges • Redhill to Purley • Gatwick Airport to Redhill • Redhill and Tonbridge • Reigate and Redhill • Horsham and Dorking (on Saturdays only) For journeys between central London and Gatwick Airport, customers should use the diverted Southern train service that will run between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport and call only at Clapham Junction. Alternatively, customers travelling between central London and the Airport can use trains to East Grinstead and change there for replacement buses to/from Gatwick Airport. For journeys between Brighton or the Sussex Coast and London, customers should use trains to Three Bridges and change there for replacement buses to/from East Grinstead for onward train connections to/from central London. Journey times will be extended, so customers will need to allow plenty of additional time, especially if travelling to the airport to catch a flight. Journey Planners have been updated to include the amended service plans for these dates. Sunday 1 February 2026 All lines closed between Brighton / Lewes / Hove and Three Bridges No trains will run between: • Brighton and Three Bridges • Hove and Three Bridges • Lewes and Three Bridges Replacement buses will run between: • Brighton and Three Bridges • Lewes / Cooksbridge / Plumpton and Haywards Heath and Three Bridges A diverted Southern train service will run between Brighton and London Victoria calling at Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Angmering, Littlehampton, Horsham, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon and Clapham Junction. If customers are travelling between Brighton and London, they are strongly advised to use this train service rather than the limited replacement bus service. Journey planners are now showing the service plans for this date. Further closures through winter-spring 2026 and beyond The Brighton Main Line route will see further closures – between Brighton and Three Bridges – on the weekend of 21 & 22 March and on Sunday 10 May. The details of the plans for these closures will appear in journey planners such as national rail from approximately 12 weeks before. There are no weekend closures on the trunk Brighton Main Line route planned for the summer months. There will be some weekend closures in latter half 2026 and we will provide details on those closer to the time. |