Sussex and Surrey railway delays after lorry collides with a bridge

The incident was reported just before 4.40pm on Wednesday (March 4).

"Due to a lorry colliding with a bridge between Hurst Green and East Grinstead all lines are blocked,” Southern Rail advised on X (formerly Twitter).

"Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised.

"Disruption is expected until 18:30.

"Your journey is likely to be disrupted, but we don't have an exact estimate for any delays at the moment.”

It was later confirmed that a road vehicle had ‘struck a railway bridge in the Lingfield area’.

Southern Rail added: “This means that trains have been stopped on all lines over the bridge, so your train won't be able to travel on this route at the moment.

"Network Rail will be sending engineers as quickly as possible to check the bridge for any damage, and if it's safe to do so, the route will be reopened.”

Services were unable to run in either direction between Hurst Green and East Grinstead.

For services towards East Grinstead, these were likely to terminate at either Hurst Green or Oxted, and services from East Grinstead were delayed or started at Hurst Green or Oxted instead.

For journeys to/from Lingfield, Dormans or East Grinstead, passengers were advised to either wait for the line to reopen – or ‘use an alternative route to complete your journey instead’.

Tickets were accepted, for no extra cost, on Southern and Thameslink services via any reasonable route, including to/from Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges and Haywards Heath.

They were also accepted on some Metrobus routes.

A service update at 5pm read: “The following service changes are expected as a result, affecting services running in both directions:

“Southern services that run between London Victoria and East Grinstead will run between London Victoria and Hurst Green only.

"Thameslink services that run between Bedford and East Grinstead will run between Bedford and either Gatwick Airport or Three Bridges instead.

"Southern services that run between London Bridge and Uckfield are expected to run as booked, but may experience some small delays.

"For journeys to/from Lingfield, Dormans or East Grinstead, you'll need to either wait for the line to reopen or use an alternative route to complete your journey instead.

"Journey times will be extended by at least 20-30 minutes so please allow plenty of extra time for your journey.”

All lines had reopened by 5.30pm but residual delays remained.

Southern reported: “Services are now able to run again in both directions between Hurst Green and East Grinstead.

"Some service changes may still occur while service recovery takes place, and delays of at least 20-30 minutes are also still an after effect, so please check live journey planners and departure boards for the latest times.”

Disruption had come to an end by 6.20pm, with services ‘no longer affected by this problem’.

To claim delay repay compensation, visit: https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and-support/delay-repay-compensation