'Great sadness' as person hit by train between Eastbourne and Hastings in 'tragic' incident

Lines between the two Sussex stations were blocked for just over two hours and trains were delayed for around 45 minutes while emergency services attended the scene.

Southern Rail reported the incident with ‘great sadness’ and said they were working ‘closely’ with the Samaritans to help anyone affected.

The incident occurred at around 10pm on February 12 and normal services resumed by 1am.

On Twitter, Southern Rail said: ‘It is with great sadness that we report a person has been hit by a train between Eastbourne and Hastings . All lines are blocked between these stations whilst the emergency services work to deal with this incident.’

At 12.45am they said: ‘The emergency services are now off site, and our Network Rail colleagues are working to get the power restored to the line.

‘Once this happens, the line can be un-blocked, and trains will be able to run.’

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They added: ‘We work closely with Samaritans and support the work they do. If you or someone close to you has been affected by this or any incident, there is always someone to talk to.

‘Contact Samaritans on 116 123 free at any time, on any phone. Help and advice is only a phone call away.

‘If your journey has been delayed by 15 mins or more, you can claim delay repay compensation which you can choose to donate to Samaritans to support their life-saving work.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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