Network Rail and its contractors have been working round the clock for weeks to repair track affected by various landslips around the country. In Kent and Sussex, it had hoped to get the line open again by today. Full repairs were completed on the Stonegate and Battle landslips last week. A landslip at Whatlington in East Sussex was due for completion over the weekend but it was found to have started moving again on Friday night (28th February) before the repairs were complete. This has put back reopening by several days at least.
Network Rail's route managing director for Kent, Fiona Taylor, said: "We are sorry for the delay in opening the route and we know how important it is to get people back on trains. However, we have to put safety first and in this instance the movement of the landslip means it will not be safe to run trains over it for a few more days.
"Thankfully we had a team on site working on the slip so we were able to take immediate action.”
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