RAIL passengers face "aggravation and chaos" over Christmas, with no trains at all serving Redhill, Reigate, Merstham and Horley stations over a seven-day period.
Other stations, such as Oxted, Upper Warlingham and Hurst Green, could be inundated with passengers on diversions.
A combination of work on a new platform at Gatwick and improvements to the Brighton mainline means there will be no direct trains between Brighton and London Victoria between Boxing Day and January 1.
Southern Rail advises passengers travelling from Brighton to take a bus from Three Bridges to East Grinstead for a direct train to Victoria.
In addition, there will be no Gatwick Express service to London during the same period, with passengers also advised to take a bus to East Grinstead.
Brian Blackmole, 57, a regular commuter on the Oxted line, said: "There has been no notice about what the service is going to be like. It's a recipe for disaster. I'm predicting nothing but aggravation and chaos."
But a Southern Rail spokesman said there had been an extensive campaign to inform passengers of the disruption, including announcements and posters at train stations and online. He said an extra 130 staff were being brought in to work on trains and at the stations affected, and trains will run every half an hour to and from East Grinstead.
A spokesman for First Great Western – which runs trains from Reading to Gatwick via Dorking, Reigate and Redhill – said that line would also not operate during the same period.
