OREANDA-NEWS. The hole was spotted by a lineside neighbour on Monday morning and the railway was closed between Norwood Junction and New Cross Gate for repairs to be made.

Engineers found the problem section of pipe and had to work to seal it and divert the water. This then allowed Network Rail to begin filling in the hole with layers of concrete and stones.

The railway reopened this morning after test trains were run overnight to make sure the line was safe for passengers.

Network Rail apologises for the inconvenience caused by the issue.

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.