The Brighton mainline will be closed for engineering works over three weekends this month – with three more closures in the following months.
Buses will replace trains on 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 January between Purley and East Croydon, Reigate and Redhill, and Redhill and Tonbridge.
The Brighton mainline will also be closed between Brighton and Three Bridges, Brighton and Hove and Brighton and Lewes on Sunday 1 February, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 March, and Sunday 3 May 2026.
Lucy McAuliffe, Network Rail Sussex route director, said: “The busy Brighton main line is among the most complex and congested routes in the country, with the infrastructure being some of the oldest and most intensively used.
“Because of this, we need to carry out this work to try to prevent delays to passenger journeys.
“We know that closing the railway at any time of the year causes inconvenience, but with the Brighton main line being a key route for the leisure and tourism industry on the south coast, we are using this typically quieter time on the railway to carry out these vital works, in an attempt to avoid having to close the railway during busier times of the year.
“I’d like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding while our teams work hard to improve the infrastructure on this critical stretch of railway.”
The work will include installing new rails and conductor rail, strengthening a cutting north of Merstham, repairing the drainage systems along three miles of track at Caterham, installing wheel timbers near Godstone and Coulsdon South and a new road-rail access point near Purley for construction vehicles.
Jenny Saunders, Southern and Thameslink’s Customer Service Director said: “Over the next three weekends, engineers will be hard at work ensuring our Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services on this line will be safe and reliable for years to come.
“This does mean that there will be some disruption to journeys, and your trip is likely to involve a bus.
“We’ll have staff on hand at our stations to keep you on the move, and my advice is to check your journey online before you leave using a journey planner.”
No weekend closures on the trunk Brighton Main Line route are planned for the summer months, but there will be some weekend closures in the latter half of 2026 Details of those will be released nearer the time.
“Buses will replace trains on 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 January between Brighton and Gatwick.”
Is this correct? According to the following links the trains will run from Brighton to Gatwick and buses will run between Gatwick Airport and Purley / East Croydon.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/our-work/our-routes/sussex/sussex-railway-upgrade-plan/essential-work-on-the-brighton-main-line/
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/service-updates/service-updates/brighton-main-line-engineering-work
This information does not correspond with the information from Network Rail, which you can find here:
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/our-work/our-routes/sussex/sussex-railway-upgrade-plan/essential-work-on-the-brighton-main-line/
This article says:
“On weekends of 10/11, 17/18 and 24/25 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.”
It does not say there will be buses between Brighton and Gatwick, which is what your article says.
Apologies – I misread the release. I’ve now corrected the story.
Hi Jo, you’ve misread it again.
Your correction reads:
“Buses will replace trains on 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 January between Purley and East Croydon, Reigate and Redhill, and Redhill and Tonbridge.”
The buses replace trains between Gatwick and Purley/East Croydon. There is a map in the Thameslink web article, if that helps.
While they’re at it maybe they can fix the ‘points’ that malfunction every week