Commuters will have to use rail replacement services for the foreseeable future after a major landslip, which left tracks dangling in mid-air.

The earth beneath a 100m stretch of railway between Tonbridge and Redhill began sliding towards the River Eden on December 22, with no services running on the tracks since then.

KMTV report on the delays

Replacement bus services are in place between Edenbridge and Godstone, but are set to alter slightly from today (January 6).

Extremely heavy rainfall and the railway having been constructed almost 200 years ago lead to the earth collapsing into the river. It is still continuing to slip.

Network Rail spokesman, Chris Denham, explained how there is no way of knowing when this will be fixed.

He said: "The nature, scale and inaccessibility of the landslip means we don't have an accurate time scale.

"The scale of the landslip is really significant - you have to see it to believe it - it's a serious problem and doesn't happen very often.

"I cannot emphasise the impact the weather has had on the railway. We had three month's worth of rain in November and one month's worth of rain in the week of the landslip. The soil simply couldn't take it."

The stretch of railway is in a very remote location, hidden behind an old Victorian railway embankment, which means workers would have to build a new road, cut through the embankment and build a bridge over the river just to access the site.

Alternatively, they could access the railway from the other side but would still need to build a new road and cut into the embankment.

Network Rail estimated it will have to rebuild around 400m of track to ensure its safety and security.

Mr Denham added: "There really is no easy option.

"So, unfortunately, we won't be running trains for some time yet and we can't tell anyone how long the tracks will be closed for because we don't know until we have decided how we are going to repair it."

Although services are still running between Edenbridge and Tonbridge, there are replacement buses for the rest of the journey.

From today, the replacement service will run as follows:

Monday to Friday

A replacement bus service will run between Redhill, Nutfield (memorial hall), Godstone and Edenbridge.

A separate minibus will go between Nutfield Station and Redhill, in both directions.

If you're travelling from Edenbridge or Godstone and need Nutfield station, either travel to Nutfield (memorial hall) on the full-size buses, or travel to Redhill and change there for the minibus service to Nutfield Station.

Trains will run between Edenbridge, Penshurst, Leigh and Tonbridge in both directions.

Saturday and Sunday

A rail replacement service will be in operation between Redhill and Tonbridge.

The separate minibus service will also continue to operate between Nutfield and Redhill stations.

Replacement bus stops:

Redhill - outside the main station entrance on Princess Way

Nutfield - full-size buses on the Redhill-Edenbridge route will stop on the A25 at the Nutfield memorial hall, and minibuses will stop close to the station on North Station Approach

Godstone - on Eastbourne Road, near the Lagham pub

Edenbridge - on Station Road, near the station itself

Penshurst - outside the Little Brown Jug Public House

Leigh - outside the Fleur de Lis Public House on the High Street

Tonbridge - outside the front of the station

Services travelling through Cuxton were also disrupted by a landslide last month and Network Rail is monitoring a number of sites in Kent in case of any further problems due to wet weather.

Read more: All the latest news from Tonbridge