GTR defends lack of direct trains to Victoria from Brighton

Southern Rail, which is run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), has not run a direct weekday service to London Victoria since January 4 due to staff being off sick with Covid and other illnesses.

Passengers heading to Victoria have to change at Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport or East Croydon, which they say adds 25 minutes each way to their journey.

The Argus asked Chris Fowler, GTR customer service director, about upcoming works which will see the Brighton mainline "blockaded" up to Three Bridges for maintenance work over nine consecutive days and the direct weekday service to London Victoria.

• READ MORE: Nine-day maintenance and weekend work on Brighton mainline to cause major disruption

He said: “From December last year to now can you point to any part of the economy that has worked exactly as it was supposed to?

“We have more people off with Covid at the moment, we have also had a big backlog of training so that has meant we have not been able to run all the trains that we would normally run.

“But at the same time we have had far less demand because of people working from home so we have a timetable at the moment which more than matches that demand.

Commuters in Brighton will have to get a rail replacement bus or they can get a train to Victoria via Littlehampton

“When more people come back, we will run more trains but due to people not going into work and us having higher absence rates, the timetable has matched what we can provide reliably and what people need.

“You can publish a timetable with more trains an hour to London Victoria but if we’re cancelling them all on the day that’s not reliable and not helping anyone.”

Commuters have complained of travel times of up to an hour longer each day since the beginning of January, with Southern prioritising other services other than its weekday Victoria line to keep a “reliable service”.

• READ MORE: Commuters demand return of direct trains to Victoria after no weekday services since January 4

Southern said it was intending to bring the direct service back by February 21, although for the first week it will be via Littlehampton, which is a two-hour journey, due to the Brighton mainline closure.

Mr Fowler added that he is “confident” of the weekday direct service returning after the mainline works are done.

The closures on the mainline are from February 19 to February 27. Network Rail will also be closing the Brighton mainline the weekend before and after the nine-day closure, on February 12 and February 13 and on March 5 and March 6, as well as Sunday, April 3.

Katie Frost who is Network Rail's Sussex route director and Chris Fowler, GTR's customer services director

The work, which will cost £15 million, will provide essential upgrades to the Brighton mainline which is among the “most congested in the country” between London and Brighton.

Commuters will also have the option of rail replacement buses between Brighton and Three Bridges at this time.

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