A 50m stretch of railway will need to be completely rebuilt following a kilometre-long freight train derailment in Lewisham.

The accident, which occured around 5.30am on January 24, resulted in a wave of cancellations and delays on Southeastern routes.

The two rear wagons of the 18-wagon freight train derailed and nobody apart from the driver was on board, so nobody was injured in the incident.

Network Rail engineers have been at the site, using a combination of cranes and jacks to get the two derailed wagons back on the tracks and moved from the site.

However they have discovered that the level of damage on this length of railway means it will take several days to complete repairs.

This means there will be no services from Lee, Mottingham or New Eltham and some trains between Cannon Street, Charing Cross and Tunbridge Wells will be diverted to run from London Victoria.

Most evening peak trains between London Cannon Street and the Medway Towns will now depart from London Blackfriars; the departure time will be the same as the normal time.

There is also a shuttle service running between Sidcup and Dartford via Crayford.

Services on the HJayes Line won't be able to stop at Lewisham, St Johns and New Cross.

Passengers will be able to use their tickets on London bus routes, underground, light railway and overground routes at no extra cost.

Routes delayed by more than 30 minutes or more as a result of this issue will also be able to claim delay repay compensation which will be doubled by Southeastern.

Andy Derbyshire, chief operating officer for Network Rail’s South East route, said: “We know that this incident is disrupting many peoples’ journeys and I’m sorry it will be a few days yet before services return to normal.

"We are doing everything we can to get the site clear and our repairs under way as quickly and safely as possible.

“We need to completely rebuild more than 50m of railway from the foundations up, just a few metres from one of the busiest railway lines in the south east.

"This is a significant job but we’ll be working round-the-clock until the work is done and trains are back up and running for passengers.”

Richard Dean, train services director at Southeastern, said: “This derailment has had a huge impact on the services we have been able to run over the last few days and unfortunately, due to the level of work needed, this will continue for the next few subsequently the dayss to come. 

"It has been very difficult for our passengers and we urge those delayed for 30 minutes or more to claim delay repay compensation, which will be doubled until the issue is resolved.

“We would like to thank you to those who travel with us for their continued patience while the emergency repair work is completed as quickly as possible during this time.

"We would also ask our passengers to please continue to checking before you travelling and to allow more time for your journeys. Information will be available at stations and online, including on Twitter where our team will be sharing the most up-to-date information.”