Families are furious after being kept awake by noise during emergency work to reopen the London to Brighton railway line.

A least one man is considering a claim for compensation for his family's lack of sleep.

Engineers have worked for a week since a landslip plunged train services into chaos.

Workmen had to ram in steel piles to strengthen the banks supporting the railway.

But families in Semley Road, Hassocks, were angered by the noise of the final stage of the work during the early hours of yesterday.

They had been warned in a letter from Railtrack, but said the extra loud work should have been done during the day.

When they complained during the night they were told the work had to be done to get the trains running as soon as possible.

Chartered electrical engineer David Barnbrook, 47, said: "After three weeks of disruption to trains, I don't see why this work could not have waited another five hours. The whole house has been shuddering. We have had five nights of this.

"I am going to claim compensation for disturbance to the whole family and for the loss of value of the house."

Neighbour Jean Challon said: "The vibration was terrible. I am worried about what is going to happen to my house."

A spokeswoman for Railtrack said: "The noise was regrettable and we apologise but it had to be done.

"We had to use the noisier method due to the depth of the piles and the nature of the ground.

"We had get it done as soon as we could. Getting it fixed has made a real difference to 50,000 people using the line."