Trains Cut For Christmas
Published 10th Dec 2002 by The Argus

Sussex rail travellers face drastically reduced services for ten days over the Christmas and New Year holiday.

There will be no trains running on Christmas Day, and on Boxing Day anyone travelling from Victoria to the Sussex Coast will have to catch a stopping train to East Croydon, then change to a Thameslink service.

The full weekday timetable will stop just after 9pm on December 23 and will not resume until the early hours of Thursday January 2.

Sussex rail companies are basing the timetable on the assumption that most commuters will be taking a fortnight off over Christmas and the New Year.

There will be a combination of Saturday and Sunday services between December 27 and January 2, enabling most commuters to get to work through a restricted timetable.

The Christmas shutdown begins early this year. Rail travellers will not be able to stay late in London for the Christmas Eve festivities. The last train from Victoria to Brighton leaves at 9.02pm, and the last one to Hove and Worthing at 8.17pm.

The last train from Brighton to Worthing and Littlehampton leaves at 8.53pm and from Brighton to Eastbourne at 9.03pm.

There will be no trains running from 10.30pm on Christmas Eve until the early hours of Boxing Day.

Albion fans wanting to travel to the team's away match at Norwich on Boxing Day are best advised to travel by road.

Network Rail will use the shutdown of the Brighton line for more than 30 hours between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day to carry out emergency engineering works.

Marsid Greenidge, spokesman for South Central, said: "This will not cause any disruption to rail services as we will not be running any."

A Saturday service will be operated on Friday December 27 and Monday December 30.

On Tuesday December 31 there will also be a Saturday service, but South Central will be stopping some early morning services to Sussex at additional stops to cater for New Year revellers.

A Sunday service will operate on New Year's Day.

Mr Greenidge said: "We have tailored our services to reflect the demand over the Christmas and New Year."

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