Rail services between Newhaven and Seaford will be cancelled for 15 days while signal repairs are carried out.

Passengers who need to travel between the towns will be offered bus services between January 2 and 17.

Railtrack has ordered the shutdown while signals are upgraded and an electricity sub station is replaced.

The old signal box at Seaford will also be demolished because it has been condemned as unsafe and is held together by braces.

Notice of the cancellations was included in literature sent out to commuters earlier this year but no specific details were given as to why.

Some passengers today criticised the timing of the work, saying it could have been organised during the quiet Christmas period.

Peter White, of Valley Drive, Seaford, said: "The thing that is slightly galling for me as a commuter is that we were initially told the cancellation would last nine days.

"That has now changed to 15 days, and knowing how the construction industry works there is every worry that that will turn into three weeks or even longer."

He said Railtrack could have chosen a better time for the work, which he described as an inconvenience.

Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, whose Lewes constituency includes Seaford, plans to look into having the signal box at Seaford restored.

Bus services will operate during normal rail times from outside Newhaven Town and Harbour stations and Bishopstone station in Seaford.