Sussex rail passengers warned of festive travel disruption.

Major train renovations will take place during Christmas, impacting travel throughout the south.

Network Rail has announced a series of engineering projects for the Southern network in Sussex and South London, including vital stations like Gatwick Airport.

Passengers are encouraged to plan their journeys ahead of time, as services will be affected over the holiday season for conductor rail replacement, junction maintenance and platform restoration.

Lucy McAuliffe, route director for Sussex at Network Rail Southern Region, said: “The festive season provides us with a unique opportunity to take advantage of decreased passenger numbers to carry out essential railway work.

The stretches of track and infrastructure being worked on this Christmas are generally some of the busiest lines of railway in the country, so we will take use of this chance to work while the railway is closed, with the goal of providing customers with safer and more dependable trips.

“I would like to thank passengers for their patience while these works are carried out and I would also like to thank our teams, who will be working hard throughout the festive period to deliver these railway improvements.” No trains will run on Christmas Day, and only limited services will be available on Boxing Day.