Rapid rail services to London from Brighton will be slowed down from next week.

Services to and from London Victoria are being changed to take in an additional stop at Clapham Junction.

It will mean an extra two or three minutes on the current fastest weekday rail journey to the capital of 47 minutes.

Rail operator South Central said the extra stop was being introduced as more and more passengers want the flexibility of being able to change at Clapham Junction for services in and out of Waterloo and south-west London.

The alterations are being introduced for the summer timetable, which begins on Sunday.

Shelley Atlas, of Brighton Line Commuters, said: "If South Central says it has done its homework and introduced these changes in response to public demand then I doubt if passengers will mind an extra two or three minutes added to their journey if it means they have greater access to other services."

Up until the early Eighties, Brighton had a non-stop service to and from Victoria.

But services will be speeded up on a Sunday with the introduction of hourly fast trains to and from Brighton to Victoria, again stopping at Clapham Junction.

Travellers on the route have had to put up with slow and semi-fast services stopping at virtually all the stations on Sundays.

The new summer timetable also heralds the end of direct services operated by South Central across the East and West Coastway of Sussex, Hampshire and Kent.

These services will terminate and start only from Brighton, allowing the station to operate in three distinct sections and therefore reducing conflicting train movements and improving punctuality.

It means travellers will have to change from platform to platform if they want to go from Worthing to Lewes or Eastbourne.

The changes mean the end of the direct services to and from Brighton to Bournemouth with the former Bournemouth services terminating and the start of the Southampton service from Sunday.

East Grinstead is being given a late train to Victoria, leaving at 10.07pm on weekdays.