Misery for thousands of commuters as Brighton Station is closed because of overcrowding amid severe Southern Rail disruption
MP calling for emergency response before someone is hurt "or worse"
ONE of the UK's busiest railway stations had to be closed last night after massive overcrowding due to delays on a failing train service caused commuters to FAINT on what was the hottest day of the year yet.
Baking temperatures combined with a series of delays, cancellations and signalling failures meant Brighton Station had to be closed amid fears of dangerous levels of overcrowding.
As the searing summer heat hit almost 34 degrees celsius across most of the UK, reports emerged of passengers fainting on the platforms and trains in the hot weather - although rail operator Southern said it had not received any information about passengers being taken ill.
Jo Edwards tweeted: "At Vict - no trains to Brighton, no advice/updates, poor lad has just fainted & being fanned by his dad, third world service".
Toby Robertson posted: "Get rid of these clowns. It's dangerous. Short form train, people fainting."
It is understood that the station was shut temporarily at 7.20pm to allow crowd control measures to be put in place.
According to the , passengers reported being stuck on trains in sweltering heat, while others said they were crammed onto station concourses.
Water bottles were being handed out at the station as some passengers claimed air conditioning on board some services between Brighton and the capital was not working.
This morning MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas said she would be calling on the new Rail Minister Paul Maynard to call an "emergency summit" about Southern Railway's performance as she feared things have gotten so bad "someone could be injured or worse".
"The horrendous situation at Brighton Station was a new low for this failing train service. I’ve heard reports of passengers fainting and being stuck on sweltering trains on an extremely hot day. The failures yesterday were caused by a combination of problems with Network Rail, some of which were unavoidable, plus the usual delays on the service and what looked liked serious failures at Brighton station.
"Specifically I’ve heard reports of communication failures outside the station – and serious overcrowding on the platforms.
“I’m doing all I can to meet with the Minister responsible for trains later today to demand action to repair this failing service. Passengers have suffered for many months now and, with a new Government in place, it’s time for real action to address the multiple problems with this service.
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"As a start the Minister should signal his intent by taking the service into public hands so Government can truly get a grip on it.
“This is an emergency situation which requires an urgent response.”
Last week Southern Railways implemented a new, reduced timetable after it cut 350 trains a day in order to create a "better service".
Furious passengers vented their frustration on the firm’s Twitter feed as services failed to arrive on time and others were cancelled – even after bosses controversially axed 341 services a day to ease pressure.
The firm has previously apologised to passengers for weeks of disruption and pressed ahead with the reduced timetable despite warnings it could have a “devastating” impact.
The new rail minister Paul Maynard will appear before the Commons Transport Select Committee on today to give evidence on the Department for Transport's role in the issue.
A spokesman said: "We sympathise strongly with our passengers who were caught up in the disruption caused by the temporary closure of Brighton station last night, and are sorry for the delays many experienced in getting home.
"The problem was caused by a signal failure at a critical point in the Gatwick area on the Brighton Mainline. Network Rail worked hard to rectify the problem, but services into Brighton were severely disrupted as there was reduced capacity through Gatwick for a period of two and a half hours between 6 and 8.30pm.
"This came on top of a series of infrastructure failures across the Southern network yesterday, including the loss of all four lines between East Croydon and London Bridge for the whole day due to repairs to a collapsed sewer at Forest Hill which also affected Brighton services.
"The failure at Gatwick meant that the station concourse and platforms became overcrowded - so much so that on the advice of the British Transport Police, the station management team temporarily closed the station. Crowd control measures were put in place once the station was re-opened to ensure the safety of passengers.
"We will of course review how the situation at Brighton last night was handled."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has stepped up efforts to take control of Southern Rail services amid union claims that passengers and staff were being "held hostage" because of delays and disruption.
In a letter to new Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, the Mayor said: "Thousands of Londoners and longer-distance commuters simply cannot get to and from work, and are understandably furious.
"There is no doubt that the franchise must now be in default, and I have previously called for your Department to step in and take control.
"Notwithstanding the wider discussions on devolution, I now offer to go one step further and put my senior TfL team in charge of the Southern franchise until we get a permanent resolution."
Meanwhile, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said passengers and staff were being "held hostage" as Brighton Station closed last night due to overcrowding.
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