Network Rail closed the Brighton Main Line between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon from the early hours of Saturday 17 January through Sunday 18 January, forcing tens of thousands of air passengers onto replacement buses. The shutdown—part of a £160 million track-renewal and drainage upgrade—affects Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services, the latter of which normally runs up to six trains per hour.
Bus bridges are operating between Gatwick, Redhill, Reigate and East Croydon, adding at least 40 minutes to journeys. A limited diversion via Horsham and Dorking into London Victoria is available but has reduced capacity and no first-class accommodation. Airport officials warn check-in queues are lengthening as travellers misjudge the extra transit time.
For travellers suddenly rerouting through different airports or facing extended layovers because of these closures, VisaHQ can remove one more travel worry. The company’s portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) lets passengers quickly verify entry requirements and secure any needed visas online, ensuring documentation is in order whether your journey is rebooked via Heathrow, a European hub, or a longer overland route.
![Weekend Engineering Works Sever Rail Link to Gatwick Airport]()
The works mark the second consecutive weekend closure, with further blockades scheduled on 25–26 January and 8–9 February. Network Rail argues that compressing work into intensive weekend windows shrinks overall project duration by nine months, but passenger-rights groups say the rolling closures disproportionately impact shift workers and families unable to absorb hotel costs.
Corporate travel advisers have circulated contingency memos recommending that international assignees landing at Gatwick either pre-book private transfers or route flights into Heathrow, which retains an uninterrupted rail connection via the Elizabeth Line. Companies should also remind employees that consequential losses—such as missed flights onward from Gatwick—are rarely covered by standard rail compensation schemes.
Once complete, the project will increase the line’s maximum permissible speed from 80 mph to 90 mph and introduce bi-directional signalling to improve resilience—changes expected to cut average delays by 12 per cent when the upgrade fully enters service in May 2026.
Bus bridges are operating between Gatwick, Redhill, Reigate and East Croydon, adding at least 40 minutes to journeys. A limited diversion via Horsham and Dorking into London Victoria is available but has reduced capacity and no first-class accommodation. Airport officials warn check-in queues are lengthening as travellers misjudge the extra transit time.
For travellers suddenly rerouting through different airports or facing extended layovers because of these closures, VisaHQ can remove one more travel worry. The company’s portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) lets passengers quickly verify entry requirements and secure any needed visas online, ensuring documentation is in order whether your journey is rebooked via Heathrow, a European hub, or a longer overland route.
The works mark the second consecutive weekend closure, with further blockades scheduled on 25–26 January and 8–9 February. Network Rail argues that compressing work into intensive weekend windows shrinks overall project duration by nine months, but passenger-rights groups say the rolling closures disproportionately impact shift workers and families unable to absorb hotel costs.
Corporate travel advisers have circulated contingency memos recommending that international assignees landing at Gatwick either pre-book private transfers or route flights into Heathrow, which retains an uninterrupted rail connection via the Elizabeth Line. Companies should also remind employees that consequential losses—such as missed flights onward from Gatwick—are rarely covered by standard rail compensation schemes.
Once complete, the project will increase the line’s maximum permissible speed from 80 mph to 90 mph and introduce bi-directional signalling to improve resilience—changes expected to cut average delays by 12 per cent when the upgrade fully enters service in May 2026.
