Live: Sink hole near Forest Hill affecting Southern Trains to London Bridge

Oh boy.

do you have any other sources for this? I’ve had a quick look and can’t see anything that substantiates this.

Well there’s this…

Which doesn’t mention a sink hole by name…but is serious-sounding.

And this, which is more so.

Thanks @Baboonery. I have moved this to the Local Services category and elaborated the title.

And we now have it in so many words

I can confirm there are NO trains at the moment between New Cross Gate and Forest Hill and woeful information. This needs to be bumped so people planning their journey home can avoid it!

I’ve shared on our social media accounts.

Looks like Mother Nature just took an executive decision on the Southern Rail franchise…

from CrawleyNews.co.uk:

Oh bugger!

Are overground trains affected too?

Not looking forward to tonight’s commute home. Although perhaps it’s a good excuse to pub crawl home from New Cross Gate

Love the twitter comments. For me, on the 521 to Waterloo now then 176 home.

Also, that’s not a hole, that’s a small divot. No doubt six weeks at a cost of a few million. Maybe the conductors and management can fill it?

I saw this link on another forum
Warning - sink hole in forest hill. Two tracks closed. Consider your journey home carefully. http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/14626048.More_misery_for_south_London_rail_passengers_after__sinkhole__opens_up_on_line_at_Forest_Hill/

Then heard about the hole being measured at 50ft deep…

Either way not a quick fix and turmoil for all local commuters.

Where actually is this hole?

And is Southern Rail looking into it? Boom boom.

In all seriousness though - has anyone seen anything about how long the disruption is likely to last. I realise that its probably a little early to give an accurate estimate, but do you think we are looking at hours, days or weeks?

Found this in Twitterland…

As someone now on a 176 to FH, I hope it is soon. It is 42 degrees on the bus.

Southern website says this is likely to affect services all day. Currently no trains running between London Bridge and East Croydon.

Alternative routes are to New Cross (whether by train or Overground) then the 171 or 122. I live in HOP so that works for me, but the 171 is not bad if you are FHill. Other alternatives are train Blackfrairs to Crofton Park or to Lewisham/Ladywell and P4/122. May be a good day to leave work early…

Or peckham and the p12 or 63.

DLR to Lewisham then 185 or Waterloo and 176.

Denmark Hill and the 176 or 185 for me tonight. Tomorrow will drive to Peckham Rye and get the train from there.

I’ve been out the country for two days and the place starts to fall apart!

#Brexitbritain

Better photos on itv.com
http://www.itv.com/news/london/2016-07-18/large-sinkhole-causing-major-disruption-to-rail-services-in-south-london/

London Bridge to catford bridge then a bus up to Forest hill. Quicker than bus in this heat.

Wow! Air conditioning wasn’t doing so well at work this morning, so I decided to spend the afternoon working from home. Looks like I dodged a bullet…

Perhaps this is a good excuse for the rest of the week!

Victoria to Denmark Hill then either 176 or 185 to FH.

Mornington Crescent!

Overground to Peckham Rye, then 197 or Denmark Hill, then 176 or 185. There’s also the P12 from Canada Water, Surrey Quays or Peckham Rye to HOP.

It’s also worth noting that the London Bridge to Victoria Southern trains are diverting via Peckham Rye and are calling at East Dulwich (176, 185) and North Dulwich (P4).

I had a lovely walk to the station on my way to my 2pm meeting only to arrive to see a nice man directing everyone to the bus.

I rushed home and jumped on my motorcycle and arrived at my meeting just off the Strand only 10 minutes late.

Motorcycle 1-0 Public Transport.

The reason I had mine. Still miss it.

This is going to last weeks if not months isn’t it…

The plan is for ballast to fill in the sink hole tonight, then tests will be carried out to see if will fill in the hole without sinking. Then they’ll test the track with trains to see if it’s safe to use. If so, the line will re-open, if not, it may be tomorrow or Wednesday.

Network Rail engineers hard at work as seen on ITV London Tonight.

ITV News London_20160718_18001830.ts_snapshot_03.36_[2016.07.18_18.54.10].jpg1920×1080 482 KB

Oh wow. I never had imagined there would be a speedy and efficient response to the hole! I thought all of SE23 would just gently be sucked into it over the next few months…

News report on ITV News earlier.

Hearing from sources elsewhere that there is a water main at the end of the sinkhole. Thames Water are investigating to see if it’s a live or dormant main.

If all goes to plan, work will commence filling the hole at 10pm.

All’s well that ends well.

The Forest Hill hole is an entry point into an alternative happier world where Southern Trains always run on time (and that’s why there aren’t many Southern Trains in this world) and all cats grin like the Cheshire Cat.

And they’re still looking at the hole!

We need a webcam

The latest (just from Southern’s main page, at http://www.southernrailway.com/) is not good:

We are not currently able to estimate when the lines will reopen however
we will continue to keep you updated as and when information is
available.

It appears the plan for later this morning is to reopen the southbound lines. However, it appears Southern will only reinstate the two trains per hour service to Caterham, with Victoria services continued to be diverted via Peckham Rye and Tulse Hill.

Northbound services from Caterham will divert from Norwood Junction via Crystal Palace and Peckham Rye to London Bridge.

London Overground won’t be able to reinstate services south of New Cross Gate until the northbound lines reopen which is looking likely to be Wednesday.

Scrap that, Network Rail have decided to close the whole line for all of Tuesday.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/143905.aspx

Scrap that then - I’m staying at home!

Probably a good excuse to try Jamii Cafe…

Or @No41Coffee at 41 Brockley Rise (they’re able to verify your SE23.life profile if you add a profile photo).

Good tip, thanks! Do you know if they have decent wifi?

Ah I’m not sure actually, when I was in there last time I think my laptop joined one of the BT wifi spots. Hopefully No 41 are watching their mentions on the forum and will get back to you here

My Jammi Cafe is very good if you dont though. Also very reasonably priced.

Update from Southern:

Clearly a very complicated business, this hole-filling thing. High-tech shovels and trained, skilled operatives are involved.

Not sure why they cant operate a shuttle service between FH and LB given the hole is on the FH downline??

That’s far too clever an idea.

Little matter of powering the trains.

Good point. I might have to retract my smart-a**e comment above!

Collapsed sewer, apparently.

That link’s not working, @AndyS.

Thanks. Think I fixed it. Try again.

Having just got the 176 from FH to Waterloo I hope they fix it soon, those busses are boiling.

They just started using something that may speed things up a bit…

Can’t see a firing squad for management and conductor’s so assume it’s gravel.

Dear sinkhole sufferers, please be overjoyed by the news that there are DELAYS through LEWISHAM this evening (Tue 29th).

Forest Hill is a nice walk from West Dulwich / Penge East…

TfL are finally providing replacement buses between New Cross Gate and Anerley, along with extra buses on routes 122 and 171.

https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/forest-hill-track-closure

And on other news, Weight Watchers report a 50% drop in trade as people flock to use the new bus saunas.

And it may be on #LondonLive soon!

Sorry about the late response to the tweet guys, I was logged into @ForestHillArts account & not the shops today!

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@Pauline It’ll be the first time London Live have viewers!

ITV News report.

BBC News.

From another forum:
Just walked home, past the station, and am sorry to say it’s not looking too positive for a train service in the morning.

There are three pumping tankers and a load of heavy duty pipes on Dartmouth Road and the workman at the underpass I spoke to had a pretty grim look on his face when he said it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. Several workman were also looking closely at the wall of the underpass and they’re currently building some scaffolding by WH Smith.

Looks like they need to divert the sewer in order to rebuild it…so spare a thought; there’s always a worse job than yours.

Fingers crossed.

It seems like they may be testing the line…

I’m glad I don’t live above Doopo Doopo any more.

Does anyone know if trains are back running this morning?

TfL website says ‘Good service’ on the Overground - no sign of any disruptions.

Southern website has no news as such, but the live departure boards online show everything running on time. What??!?

The Overground Twitter feed says it’s all back up and running, although Southern Twitter reports delays due to an imposed speed restriction along the section of the line (like we’d notice…)

Can definitely hear trains running in the background outside!

Great. Fingers crossed for a more successful commute for all today!

What sinkhole? Trains are lovely and quiet too!

FYI Devonshire Road closed to traffic at junction with the South Circ

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I’m actually very impressed with Network Rail’s response to the problem. Easy commute to London Bridge this morning, trains even seemed a bit more punctual than usual!

Likewise!

Yep given how vocal people are when things go wrong (and deservedly so, especially in the case of Southern) I think it’s fair to acknowledge how quickly a potentially serious issue was fixed and recognise the staff who worked round the clock to minimise the disruption. For once this was a problem that really was out of their hands…

There is Japanese knotweed all along the footpath adjacent to the sink hole if the ITV photo is accurate. I told a member of staff at the station about a month ago and he came to look but nothing has been done as far as I can tell.

Just asking, but did the member of staff share your concern? Did they appreciate why that’s a problem? Perhaps a more ‘official’ means of alerting Network Rail is called for in order that this information quickly gets into the in-tray of someone who appreciates the urgency.

They may not have been aware of this:

Or this http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/14532257.Woman_taking_legal_action_against_Network_Rail_over_invasive_plant_growing_behind_her_garden/

I have just been on the phone for about an hour passed from one machine to another with the odd disinterested operator from Lewisham council. Eventually they passed me to the environment team and I spoke to the most unconcerned man ever who said it was nothing to do with them. How could it possibly be?! Then I phoned Network Rail and couldn’t get the right person although someone has emailed me from the freedom of information department with an online complaint/request form for the contact and communities team. Of course! At least there is an email now so there is a “paper” trail of sorts. I also notice it is in the yard of the skip hire place near WHSmiths. Some Japanese Knotweed appeared near the garages round the back of our houses (Hyndewood, Inglemere Rd) earlier this year very near to where people have their skips left. Hmmmmm