Southeastern trains delays: 200 tonnes of dirt falls onto tracks at Barnehurst station causing misery for commuters

Commuters in south-east London face 24 hours of misery after a landslide rained hundreds of tonnes of dirt onto rail tracks.

Trains on the Dartford to Lewisham line were expected to be cancelled for the rest of the day due to the landslide near Barnehurst station. No services will call at Barnehurst, Bexleyheath, Welling, Falconwood, Eltham or Kidbrooke.

A Network Rail spokesman said branches, soil and debris were covering one of the lines and predicted that only “some” services would run tomorrow.

Engineers were made aware of the problem at about 10pm on Monday when a southbound train from Victoria was stopped in its tracks by the mound of rubble.

A Southeastern spokesman said passengers could use their tickets on buses to Greenwich or Sidcup, where they could pick up their journeys.

“London buses are accepting tickets on the route,” he added.

“We are very sorry for the disruption to your journey today and are working with Network Rail to have the line open as soon as possible.”

It is the second time in two years a landslide has grounded trains running through Barnehurst. In January 2014 commuters faced hours of chaos after a torrent of debris fell onto the tracks, with Network Rail forced to mount an emergency cleanup.

Commuters took to Twitter to vent their anger at the latest mishap.

Stefano Borella wrote: “Another @network rail failure at Barnehurst, #landslip, only repaired 2 years ago.”

Purple Giraffe (@Purple_Egg89) said: "A landslip at #barnehurst again?! @Se_Railway you really need to stop cutting trees down. They hold the earth in place...!"