There will be no trains from Brighton and Hove to London Victoria until Monday 10 January, with rail bosses blaming covid-19.
Rail engineering works had already led to trains to Victoria being cancelled until Tuesday 4 January, with passengers from the coast being diverted to London Bridge.
But now Southern and Gatwick Express have cancelled services to and from Victoria until the following week as more staff call in sick.
Southern said: “A reduced service will continue to operate on all routes until further notice owing to the significant ongoing impact of coronavirus, particularly in terms of staff sickness which businesses and transport operators across the country continue to see.
“By reducing the service, we aim to provide more certainty over which trains will and will not run for those who are travelling and reduce unexpected cancellations.
“There will be no Southern or Gatwick Express services at London Victoria, Battersea Park, Clapham Junction or Wandsworth Common until Monday 10 January.
“The times of trains on all routes will be changed and, on many routes, services will be reduced.”
Last month the track and signalling operator Network Rail said: “From Saturday 25 December to Monday 3 January 2022 no trains will run between East Croydon and London Victoria. Most Southern trains will be diverted to London Bridge.
“On these dates Network Rail will continue work on the Victoria resignalling project, a major four-year programme of investment to upgrade signalling and track at key rail junctions on the south London lines into London Victoria.
“Over the 10-day Christmas closure Pouparts Junction, near Clapham, will be completely rebuilt with new track and ballast.
“Signal gantries to house the new signalling equipment, cables routes and power supply points will be installed along the lines from Balham to London Victoria.
“By doing some of the work in week-long chunks called ‘blockades’, Network Rail can give passengers the benefits of the upgrades much more quickly.”
Network Rail added: “Later in the new year, from Saturday 19 February to Sunday 27 February 2022, Copyhold junction (near Haywards Heath) will be rebuilt with new track and points, and new track will be laid at Burgess Hill.
“The railway between Three Bridges, Brighton and Lewes will close for these nine days, with supporting weekend work before and after the main closure.
“In total, over 1,000 metres of track, 7,000 tonnes of ballast and eight sets of points will be replaced with new, more reliable equipment.
“On theses dates, buses will replace trains between Three Bridges, Brighton and Lewes.”
Don’t Look Up for your train time tables!!
Such a rubbish company.
Expensive. Staff from the munsters. Service poor
Waste of space
The headline is incorrect.
There will be no trains to Victoria but there will be to London Bridge.
Having said that, Southern like South Eastern before it should be taken away from Govia/GoAhead, they are just not fit for purpose.
Er, the headline’s completely accurate. There will be no trains to Victoria. The second line of the story says there are trains to London Bridge. I’ve always regarded the heading the summary of the key point in what follows. The story is for giving the fuller picture, providing the caveats and so on. You leave enough comments Chaz to suggest you might have an elementary appreciation of how these things work.