Amended weekend train services for Riddlesdown;
We have received this e-mail below from GTR reminding about the engineering works every weekend in January (and later in the year) on the main London to Brighton rail. According to the National Rail website, this WILL have an impact for Riddlesdown train services (and Sanderstead & Upper Warlingham) as they will be hourly only, going to/from London Bridge on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The London/East Grinstead line will be used for access to London Gatwick and onward to Brighton and the south coast. Please check either the National Rail or Southern Railway websites before travelling on these weekends.

If you are thinking of dropping someone off quickly at London Gatwick, don’t forget the drop-off/pick up fee of £10 has now come into effect. You can use the long stay car park to drop off for free. Check to the London Gatwick website

GTR e-mail (dated 6/1/26)
“Reminder about upcoming weekend closures affecting trains on the Brighton Main Line;
I am getting in touch with a reminder that engineering works will affect trains on the Brighton Main Line, and some associated branches off the route, over the next four weekends.

On Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 January, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 January and Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January, 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. In addition, on each of the Sundays of these weekends there will also be no trains between Tattenham Corner or Caterham and Purley.

Replacement buses will be in operation along most of the sections where trains are not running.

Buses will also be running to link Three Bridge or Gatwick Airport to/from East Grinstead from where frequent trains will be running in and out of central London via East Croydon.

A Southern train service will also run between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria using a diversionary route, calling at Clapham Junction only.
Regardless of the route option being used, journeys between central London and Gatwick Airport will take much longer than usual over these three weekends.
The diagram attached with this email provides an overview of service arrangements for the next three weekends.
In addition, on Sunday 1 February and on several dates later in the spring (21/22 March, 3 May), the Brighton Main Line will be closed between Brighton / Lewes / Hove and Three Bridges.

Replacement buses will be running along the closed sections. A diverted train service will also operate between Brighton and London Victoria via Hove, Littlehampton and Horsham.

There is more detailed information about these upcoming closures in the briefing below this email.

Customer advice
On all of these dates, journeys will take longer than usual so we are advising customers to plan ahead and allow additional time, especially if heading to the Airport to catch a flight. Journey planners such as national rail are showing the amended service plans for the closures up to late March.
We have created dedicated pages about the works on our Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express websites that provides information for customers on the upcoming closures.

It is also worth noting that this email and our webpages mentioned above refer to weekend closures affecting the trunk Brighton Main Line route. It is very important to remember there may be other closures taking place late at night or early mornings, as well as on other parts of the network, that could also affect journeys. We therefore always recommend checking our planned works calendars on Southern and Thameslink websites for any impacts to journeys and checking before you travel at the national rail website.

Kind regards,
Ben Thomas
Special Projects Communications Manager
Govia Thameslink Railway”

“BRIEFING
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 January
Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 January
Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January
All lines closed between Gatwick Airport and Purley / East Croydon

No trains will run on any routes between:
• Gatwick Airport and East Croydon / Purley
• Reigate and Redhill
• Redhill and Tonbridge
• Purley and Caterham on Sundays only (trains will run on Saturdays)
• Purley and Tattenham Corner on Sundays only (trains will run on Saturdays)

Replacement buses will run between:
• East Grinstead and Gatwick Airport
• East Grinstead and Three Bridges
• Redhill to Purley
• Gatwick Airport to Redhill
• Redhill and Tonbridge
• Reigate and Redhill
• Horsham and Dorking (on Saturdays only)

For journeys between central London and Gatwick Airport, customers should use the diverted Southern train service that will run between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport calling only at Clapham Junction.
Alternatively, customers travelling between central London and the Airport can use trains to East Grinstead and change there for replacement buses to/from Gatwick Airport.

For journeys between Brighton or the Sussex Coast and London, customers should use trains to Three Bridges and change there for replacement buses to/from East Grinstead for onward train connections to/from central London.

Journey times will be extended, so customers will need to allow plenty of additional time, especially if travelling to the airport to catch a flight.

Journey Planners have been updated to include the amended service plans for these dates.
Sunday 1 February 2026, Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March, Sunday 3 May

All lines closed between Brighton / Lewes / Hove and Three Bridges
No trains will run between:
• Brighton and Three Bridges
• Hove and Three Bridges
• Lewes and Three Bridges
Replacement buses will run between:
• Brighton and Three Bridges
• Lewes / Cooksbridge / Plumpton and Haywards Heath and Three Bridges

A diverted Southern train service will run between Brighton and London Victoria calling at Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Angmering, Littlehampton, Horsham, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon and Clapham Junction. If customers are travelling between Brighton and London, they are strongly advised to use this train service rather than the limited replacement bus service.

Journey planners are now showing the service plans for these closures up to late March. They will begin to show details for the closure on Sunday 3 May, from 12 weeks in advance.”
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The RRA queried why only one train an hour is serving Riddlesdown and this is the response we got back from GTR:

“When we need to make revisions to our usual services during major engineering works such as this, it’s always a difficult balancing act in order to try to provide the best overall service for as many customers as possible.

Over the next three weekends we need to significantly increase capacity between East Grinstead and central London. This is necessary to cater for the huge volumes of people who will be travelling via that route, either to or from Gatwick Airport or further afield from places such as Brighton or other coastal or Sussex destinations. The only way we can do this is by increasing the number of trains running to and from East Grinstead, increasing it from the usual two trains per hour up to three per hour.

To make this enhanced service work operationally, two of those trains will be running ‘fast’ and one will call at intermediate stations you mention. We recognise this does unfortunately mean a reduction in frequency at some of the smaller intermediate stops, and we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause. However, running some trains fast and running some stopping services helps balance out loadings on trains, freeing-up space on board the trains themselves, with the expectation that many of those customers diverting via East Grinstead to or from destinations further afield will generally opt for (or be directed to) the faster services, thereby freeing up space on the stopping service for you and other users of the smaller intermediate local stations.”