A landslip has heaped fresh misery on rail users on top of pre-planned engineering works.

Network Rail said a “significant amount of work” would be needed to get the route between Horsham and Dorking back to normal after the major problem at Ockley, which happened following Monday's storm. 

Meanwhile the Brighton mainline was subject to major improvement works forcing travellers onto lengthy bus replacement services.

Passengers between London to Gatwick have had to take a train to Dorking, a bus to Three Bridges and a shuttle to the airport.

London Victoria to Brighton travellers have faced two hour bus journeys via East Grinstead.

A statement from Southern Railway read: “Network Rail has been assessing the damage and unfortunately there needs to be a significant amount of work carried out to get the track back to normal.

“This will not be a quick repair and we are working with Network Rail to determine what service we can provide in the meantime.”

The public is asked to check the service prior to travel at www.southernrailway.com.