Network Rail to install 208 sheet piles at Godstone in emergency landslip closure

Network Rail will close the Redhill to Tonbridge line for five days from Wednesday 28 October to install 208 sheet piles into a moving embankment near Godstone in Surrey, with buses replacing trains until Sunday 1 November.

The infrastructure owner said engineers monitoring embankments in the Surrey area had detected movement in the ground beneath the track at Godstone. A speed restriction is in place to keep trains running until the work starts.

During the closure, 208 sheet piles, each 10m long, will be installed into a 126m stretch of embankment to stabilise and strengthen it and prevent further movement, Network Rail said. Engineers will also carry out extra track maintenance to help lift some of the speed restrictions already slowing services on the route.

Nad Campbell, project manager for Network Rail, said: "We're sorry for the disruption and short notice. We know closing the line between Redhill and Tonbridge will frustrate passengers, and we have not taken this decision lightly."

He said teams were preparing the site ahead of the closure and would keep monitoring the affected area in the meantime, taking any additional measures needed to keep the railway safe. Engineers will work around the clock to install the metal wall, he said.

Passenger arrangements

Replacement buses will run between Redhill and Tonbridge, calling at all stations, and will also stop at Edenbridge Town for connections with Uckfield line trains. Part of the car park at Redhill station closed from Sunday 25 October to allow the buses to operate.

Tom Easdown, Southern's head of stations, said: "We're working hard behind the scenes, with our colleagues at Network Rail, to keep people moving, including arranging bus services, ticket acceptance and all of the latest information will be available on our website."

Network Rail said journey planners such as National Rail Enquiries were being updated from Friday 23 October. It stressed that the Godstone work is separate from the long-planned closure between Tonbridge and Wadhurst, which affects Southeastern services from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November. That closure, according to Network Rail's Kent upgrade plan, is for renewal of specialist slab track through Grove Hill Tunnel and replacement of track components around Robertsbridge and Mountfield.

A line with a history of slips

The Godstone intervention is the latest in a series of earthworks jobs on the Redhill to Tonbridge route documented in Network Rail's own announcements.

Intervention	Date	Scale
Edenbridge landslip repair	Closed from 22 Dec 2019	More than 40,000 tonnes of stone on 40 trains
Bough Beech sheet piling	Reported April 2024	91 sheet piles, 8m long, over 100m
Edenbridge strengthening	August 2025	360m steel wall, 226 soil nails each 9m long
Godstone sheet piling	28 Oct to 1 Nov 2026	208 sheet piles, 10m long, over 126m

The line closed on 22 December 2019 after a landslip at Edenbridge. In March 2020 Network Rail said it would reopen the line on Monday 16 March 2020, two weeks earlier than expected. Fiona Taylor, Network Rail's route director for Kent at the time, described the repair as incredibly challenging. Network Rail said then that the railway was built of Wealden Clay, a material not used in modern railway construction.

Network Rail said in April 2024 that, after another landslip at Bough Beech near Edenbridge, engineers had installed 91 sheet piles over a 100m section. It said the embankment had become saturated and weakened by recent heavy rain, and that it would spend £2.8bn to 2029 on measures to cope with extreme weather, including building or rebuilding 600,000 metres of drains.

In June 2025 Network Rail announced buses would replace trains from 16 to 25 August 2025 for further strengthening near Edenbridge, where it said landslips had caused significant disruption in recent years. When the line reopened on 26 August 2025, it reported a 360m steel wall either side of the track, 226 soil nails each 9m long and 13 miles of new high voltage power cables between Nutfield and Leigh.

The wider earthworks picture

Network Rail manages more than 190,000 earthwork assets, most of its slopes are over 150 years old, and it says they often show vulnerability after prolonged wet weather or heavy rain. Landslips typically follow long periods of heavy rain when the ground becomes saturated, according to the company.

Elsewhere, Network Rail is investing £33m to prevent landslips at Browney Curve on the East Coast Main Line near Durham, including installing 529 piles.

Trains are due to resume between Redhill and Tonbridge after the Godstone closure ends on Sunday 1 November.