TRAIN bosses have explained why they are not running direct buses from Brighton to Three bridges while the line is shut.

The Brighton Main Line is shut between the city and Three Bridges until Monday for engineering works and passengers have complained that four hours have been added to some journeys

A spokesman for Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Southern Railway, said: “On Mondays to Fridays the number of customers travelling on the Brighton mainline makes it impractical to transport everyone using buses alone.

“We have already brought in over 100 additional buses a day, compared to what we normally run at weekends, and have up to 35 buses an hour arriving at Three Bridges. If we ran non-stop buses from Brighton we would need another 40. The hub at Three Bridges and the road network would not be able to cope with 75 buses an hour and the station and trains at Three Bridges would be potentially very overcrowded.

“The road congestion caused by such a large number of buses, the amount of time taken to load/unload and the road layout for large vehicles in a number of locations would lead to journeys being much longer than a normal replacement bus journey.

“To provide non-stop services would also mean using our contingency buses which we need to keep in reserve for use across the network should there be any disruption, road closures or anything else that impacts the service. Alternatively we could reduce the bus service provided for stations between Preston Park and Balcombe, but we do not think this would be fair on passengers who have no rail alternative.

“We recommend using the two trains per hour running between London and Brighton via the diversion route. These trains will be formed of 12 carriages. The diversion route takes approximately 60 minutes longer than normal, but less than would be the case if customers were solely moved by bus.”