Following the discovery of a landslip caused by heavy rainfall on the afternoon of January 27, Network Rail has been tirelessly working to repair a 30-metre section of the railway. The landslip blocked one of the four tracks on the busy main line between Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport, leading to service disruptions.
The first phase of repairs, which began on Monday morning, has been completed. This phase involved installing 59 steel piles, each 6 meters long, and adding a steel beam to the back of the sheet pile wall, with anchors secured into the ground beneath the track.
The second phase will focus on rebuilding the slope of the embankment with new material, working from the bottom of the embankment away from the track. During this final phase, a full train service is expected to operate.
Network Rail’s Sussex route director, Lucy McAuliffe said: “We want to thank passengers as well as the local community at Three Bridges for their patience – we know that there’s never a good time to close any of the tracks on the railway, but we needed to repair this landslip straightaway to keep everyone safe.
“It has been a challenging site to work on, but we’ve managed to do the work we needed to get the railway re-opened much sooner than we thought was possible, and I want to thank the team for all their effort in doing so. Our teams will continue to work at the site in the coming weeks, but importantly, the full service will be able to run.”
Image credit: Network Rail
