Train Derailment - Brighton Station

markw said:

But it is coping and this is the climate that doesn't help, hot in day, cold at night. , it was the hottest day of the year yesterday with high of 25 degrees.

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Frutos said:

There is a massive difference between 'hottest day of the year' and 'hot'. It may have been one but it certainly wasn't the other, nor has it been cold at night.

As for coping, two days worth of widespread disruption due to one issue would suggest not.

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carteater said:

I was caught right in the middle of this farce, I got the already delayed train from Lewes to Brighton at around quarter to 2, it goes smoothly until london road where it just stops, we then learn about the train derailment, and are stuck there for about an hour and a half, eventually I just gave up and walked from london road to brighton station, where I was greeted with long lines for buses that arrived about half an hour later, at least they gave us water (that was nice) and delay re payment leaflets, though I got a thameslink one which is useless to me. So after all that I finally got back home in Hassocks at 5 o'clock. FFS!

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markw said:

But it is coping and this is the climate that doesn't help, hot in day, cold at night. , it was the hottest day of the year yesterday with high of 25 degrees.

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beorhthelm said:

only 20deg in Brighton. this temperature thing is nonsence, i understand the principle but it doesnt wash, the temperatures absolute and variation are not that uncommon and we didnt see similar problems elsewhere. seems more likly a poor excuse for missed maintenance or a dodgy connector on the points, or an obstuction on the line or somthing else.

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Herr Tubthumper said:

Like the hi-tech lifting gear they're using to get the train on its tracks

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Barrel of Fun said:

You waited an hour and a half before making a 15 minute stroll?

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A derailed train which left thousands of passengers delayed has been blamed on “driver error”.

Chaos was caused on the rail network after the driver went through a red light at around 2pm on Wednesday. The blunder caused disruption across the network until around 3pm yesterday.

The out-of-service train was leaving the Lovers Walk train depot outside Brighton station when it derailed. All services between Brighton and Hove, on the Brighton Mainline and Brighton and Lewes were affected.

Thousands of passengers were forced to take replacement bus services on the hottest day of the year.

The carriage was back on the tracks by midday yesterday and taken back to the depot.

Cables supplying power to the track were also damaged, but repaired during the removal effort.

Southern Rail said: “The investigation into the derailment is still ongoing. However, it appears that the cause was driver error.

“The empty train was approaching the main line into Brighton station as it was leaving the depot. The train passed a red signal and the infrastructure did what it was designed to do and stopped the train.”

Southern Rail has been criticised for not acting quickly enough to remove the derailed train and resume normal services – despite working through the night on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning to move the train.


Passengers responded in fury and jest. Tom Phillips wrote: “Surely there is a better way of moving the derailed train outside @brightonstation than just... pushing it by hand.” Helen Day said: “I know how that train feels. There are moments when I have felt most derailed, waiting out- side Brighton station.”

A Southern Rail spokesman told The Argus: “The reason it took longer than anticipated is that the wheels of the derailed bogey were embedded quite deeply into the ballast - the stones you see on the track bed - and it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that it became apparent that it was going to take longer than antic- ipated to re-rail the carriage.

“While it was being done, power into and out of the station had to remain off for the safety of the lifting crew which is why we didn’t have trains running between Brighton and Preston Park at the time.”

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Bozza said:

It's certainly been a rough week for commuters this week.

At least so it appears as I work from sofa in shorts and a t-shirt.
Next month I will be going to work in shorts and t-shirt and will do so until late October. Not quite hot enough yet

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