RAIL bosses failed to prevent ice at a known cold spot from causing a third day of disruption after two days of strikes.

Trains were unable to operate at Plumpton and Cooksbridge due to ice preventing trains getting electricity - meaning the line between Haywards Heath and Lewes was blocked for more than an hour yesterday.

Hove MP Peter Kyle slammed Network Rail’s inability to react to a problem which has caused delays and cancellations twice already this year.

He said: “The responsibility of this rests solely on management.

“The maintenance programme and the rail upgrade programme has been totally mismanaged from the very top.

“I don’t blame the engineers, who are extremely hard-working people, it’s not their responsibility to make sure the rail and management of the pinch points on the line are dealt with.

“We seem to be constantly reacting to problems instead of getting to them before they become a crisis.”

Commuter Kristiane Sherry was stuck in Seaford for 45 minutes waiting to make the trip to London yesterday morning The 28-year-old said: “It was just very frustrating.

“Cold weather is not an excuse for such delays – and it happens quite a fair amount.”

Another frustrated commuter, who was unable to reach London for two days during the strikes, was George Whiting, 23, from Hove.

He said: “It’s just constant, and that’s the problem.

“You’d think after the strikes that we’d be able to get back to a bit of normality, but there’s another problem and it’s just ruined the week for so many people.

“There’s delays every morning, there’s cancellations, and even if you get onto a train then there’s barely a seat.

“When you think of the money we pay to get up to London, we’re just not getting the service we deserve.

“It’s embarrassing that we can’t function when there’s a bit of ice about – Network Rail need to pull their finger out.”

On January 8 delays were called due to ice on the rail, meaning trains took an extra 15 minutes and Network Rail admitted they got the weather forecast wrong.

On February 12 a train journey which should have lasted 18 minutes took two hours because of ice on the same area between Lewes and Keymer.

Despite this spot causing a problem three times this year Network Rail spokesman Chris Denham said there is nothing to suggest that stretch suffers unduly from ice and said the disruption was down to the unusual weather.

“This morning was no exception,” he said.

“With snow falling in Sussex and temperatures dropping low enough in one area to cause rain and sleet to freeze on the rail that supplies power to trains.

“Unfortunately, the train was unable to draw enough power from the rail and was delayed as a result. This led to disruption to trains heading towards Lewes and Eastbourne.

“During the winter we run anti-icing trains across the railway in Sussex and this line is no different.

“However this morning was very unusual in providing a slice of winter in spring and we apologise to passengers who were disrupted as a result.”