Southern Railway delays and cancellations: Line closed after person hit by train between Eastbourne and Hastings
There will be rail delays into this evening after a person dies after being hit by a train.
A person has died after being hit by a train earlier today with rail services expected to be affected until this evening. The incident occurred between Eastbourne and Hastings, the British Transport Police (BTP) confirmed.
A BTP spokesperson said they were called at around 2.30pm on Wednesday (October 8) to reports of a casualty on the tracks near Collington railway station, adding: “Officers responded with paramedics, however sadly a person was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”
Southern Railway has now confirmed there will be no trains between Eastbourne and Hastings / Ashford International until approximately 8pm with all lines closed while emergency services respond to this incident.
A statement on the railway company’s website states: “As a result, trains between these stations may be cancelled or revised. All stations between Pevensey & Westham and Bexhill will not be served.”
Offering advice to travellers, the statement added: “If you travel now, you will need to use another route for your journey, if there is one available in your area. This will take at least 60 minutes longer than usual. Southern services will be unable to run between Eastbourne and Hastings until further notice this afternoon, in both directions. If your train is en route, it is likely to finish its journey before it gets to this part of the network. There will also be some complete cancellations of services.”
Southern has said they are working with Network Rail and the emergency services to deal with this incident as sensitively, quickly and safely as possible and have requested rail replacement buses for Pevensey & Westham, Hastings, and Ashford International, however, they have not yet been confirmed.
Passengers have been advised they may use affected tickets at no extra cost on the following routes:
- Southeastern between Hastings, Tonbridge and London Bridge, and also between Ashford International and Tonbridge
- Stagecoach buses on any route between Polegate, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings and Rye, and also between Ham Street and the Ashford area
- Brighton & Hove Buses on Routes 12, 12A and 12X between Brighton, Newhaven, Seaford and Eastbourne, and also on routes 29 and 29A between Brighton and Lewes
Southern is warning passengers whose journey includes replacement road transport, that travel may take up to an additional 40 minutes. Customers can check journeys using the Live Departure Boards, and view a live map of the network. They can also see an alternative route guide. The Southern app has all the latest up-to-date information and the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.
If your journey is disrupted, you may be entitled to compensation. To support a claim, passengers should keep hold of train tickets and make a note of the journey details.
The Southern spokesperson added: “If you've been affected by what happened on the network today, there is always someone to talk to. You can contact the Samaritans on 116 123 from any phone for a confidential chat.”