These are the weekends a major Sussex to London railway route will be closed

Works to improve the railway line from Brighton and Lewes to London will see a series of weekend closures over the coming months, as well as a nine-day closure during a half term.
Network Rail engineers will be working on the Brighton MainlineNetwork Rail engineers will be working on the Brighton Mainline
Network Rail engineers will be working on the Brighton Mainline

Network Rail urged passengers to check before travelling as a ‘major overhaul’ of the line between Three Bridges and Brighton takes place.

The closures affect services between Brighton and Three Bridges, as well as Lewes and Three Bridges.

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No trains will run between Three Bridges and Brighton/Lewes via Haywards Heath.

Direct services between London and Brighton will continue to run, but will be diverted via Littlehampton and Horsham.

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A network of replacement bus services will operate for the intermediate stations between Three Bridges and Brighton/Lewes.

Speaking to passengers at Eastbourne about the line closuresSpeaking to passengers at Eastbourne about the line closures
Speaking to passengers at Eastbourne about the line closures

The line will be closed on every weekend in October, as well as:

- Saturday November 3

- Saturday November 10

- Saturday November 24 and Sunday November 25

Balcombe tunnellBalcombe tunnell
Balcombe tunnell

The line will remain open throughout December, but there will be further closures planned in 2019 on:

- Sunday January 6

- Saturday January 26 and Sunday, January 27

- Saturday February 9 and Sunday February 10

- All week during half term on Saturday February 16 to Sunday February 24

- Saturday March 2 and Sunday March 3

- Saturday March 23

- Saturday March 30 and Sunday March 31

- Saturday April 6 and Sunday April 7

- Sunday May 5

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The £67m Brighton Main Line Improvement Project will include upgrades to track, signalling and tunnel drainage which Network Rail says will lead to fewer delays owing to equipment faults or problems caused by flooding inside Victorian tunnels at Balcombe and Clayton.

Paul Harwood, Network Rail’s director of South East route investment, said: “We want to make the least reliable part of our network better for passengers and our work to upgrade the southern end of the Brighton Main Line is now well underway.

“We know there’s never a good time to close the railway, which is why we’re working closely with our train operator partners to keep disruption to passengers to an absolute minimum. I’d advise passengers to keep an eye out for the information that’s available to them in stations and online and plan ahead if travelling at weekends in October.”

Keith Jipps, Govia Thameslink Railway’s infrastructure director, said: “Network Rail’s works to upgrade the Brighton Main Line really are vital for us to continue to improve our service and we appreciate many of our passengers who use the railway at the weekends will be inconvenienced.

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“I’d remind travellers that Brighton and surrounding towns remain open for business and there will be an extensive bus replacement service and trains running via the longer route through Littlehampton.”

To find out more about the work, visit: www.brightonmainline.co.uk