Second Rail Closure Hits Tonbridge as Emergency Landslip Works Shut the Redhill Line

Train travellers heading through Tonbridge are facing a second rail closure within the same week, after Network Rail announced emergency works to stabilise a moving embankment near Godstone will shut the Redhill to Tonbridge line from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November - stacking directly on top of the already-running closure of the Hastings line between Tonbridge and Wadhurst.

Network Rail engineers monitoring embankments in the Godstone area of Surrey detected ground movement beneath the track, and have already imposed a speed restriction while they prepare emergency repairs. From Wednesday, a five-day closure will let engineers drive 208 steel sheet piles, each 10 metres long, into a 126-metre stretch of embankment to stop it moving further. Crews will also use the closure to carry out extra track maintenance aimed at lifting some of the speed restrictions already in place on the route.

A replacement bus service will run between Redhill and Tonbridge throughout the closure, calling at all stations in between. It will also make an additional stop at Edenbridge Town, specifically to connect with Southern's Uckfield line services for passengers needing that onward route. Redhill station's car park will be partially closed from Sunday 25 October to make room for the buses to operate safely, and Southern is warning that replacement journeys will take longer than the train.

Network Rail has been explicit that this is a separate piece of work to the long-planned closure of the Hastings line between Tonbridge and Wadhurst, which began on 24 October and also runs until 1 November. But the practical effect for anyone travelling through Tonbridge over the second half of the October half term is the same: both the line east towards Wadhurst and Hastings, and the line north-west towards Redhill and Gatwick, are without trains at once, with replacement buses covering both routes until the same Sunday.

Nad Campbell, Network Rail's project manager for the works, said: "We're sorry for the disruption and short notice. We know closing the line between Redhill and Tonbridge will frustrate passengers, and we have not taken this decision lightly. Our engineers will work around the clock to install a metal wall that will prevent further ground movement." Southern's Head of Stations, Tom Easdown, added: "I appreciate how disruptive this closure will be to our customers between Redhill and Tonbridge, and I'm sorry for the impact this will have on journeys next week. We're working hard behind the scenes, with our colleagues at Network Rail, to keep people moving."

Source: Network Rail media centre