Passengers have told of the terrifying moment a landslide caused a train to derail.

About 500 people were on the Bognor to London Victoria service on Saturday when the incident happened between Merstham and Coulsdon South stations.

The front set of wheels of the eightcarriage Southern train were derailed but the carriage stayed upright and nobody was injured.

Firefighters and railway staff spent more than two hours following the incident at 12.30pm evacuating passengers and putting them on buses to Purley train station.

Michael Martin, 53, from Southwater, near Horsham, was travelling to Chelsea's Premiership football match at Stamford Bridge with his son.

He said they were in the front carriage when there was a bang as they hit the landslip. Mr Martin said: "It derailed the front of the train but we must have travelled another 200 or 300 yards along the rails.

"We were waiting for an impending crash and for the train to turn over."

Mr Martin said he and his son were so shaken up they returned home rather than going to the football.

Another passenger, Paul Johnson, 30, from Horsham, said: "There wasn't really any serious shaking of the train and it was brought to a halt in a really controlled manner. I was rather impressed with how British everyone was. The emergency services were there pretty quickly."

Adrian Webb, 41, from Reigate, said rocks and soil were thrown in the air as the front carriage of the train ploughed into the ground next to the line. Several windows were smashed by flying debris.

The train was removed late on Saturday but the line between Redhill and Purley was closed all yesterday and there was a replacement bus service. The line was due to reopen shortly before 5am today.

Abseil teams were brought in to inspect the sides of the railway embankment.

  • Passengers travelling between Lewes and Seaford also faced disruption on Saturday because of electrical supply problems.