RAIL passengers who are herded on to replacement buses over the August bank holiday should be compensated for the hassle, a Sussex MP has said.

Norman Baker, MP for Lewes and Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, published research showing more than 1,000 miles of rail routes are due to be replaced by buses between August 28 and 31 due to engineering works.

The line between Pulborough and Barnham will be closed on the Saturday and Monday as Network Rail replaces two bridges over the River Arun.

The work is expected to disrupt visitors to the Arundel Festival.

During the week leading up to the bank holiday weekend there will be disruption to the 1am service from Victoria to Brighton.

On the bank holiday Sunday anyone travelling to Stansted Airport from London’s Liverpool Street station will have to board a bus.

Meanwhile, travellers planning to catch a Eurostar train are warned there will be no rail services between London Bridge and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras International station during the holiday weekend.

Mr Baker complained disruption would be hard to avoid and called on train operators to give a “substantial rebate” to those forced to take the bus.

The MP said: “Spending hours in a hot bus is not the way most of us want to spend our bank holiday.

Passengers who have paid for a rail journey have the right to expect to travel by train.

“Train companies that force passengers to travel part of the journey by bus should give them a substantial rebate on the cost of their ticket.”

A spokesman for rail operator Southern said the bank holiday was chosen for engineering work to minimise disruption to travellers.

The spokesman said: “Overnight engineering works on the Brighton line finish at 5am on Friday.

“The engineering work at Arundel is due to a bridge replacement and rail replacement buses will be in place to mitigate the effects of this work.”