Faults cause major disruption on London to Luton trains

Passengers faced disruption at several London stations on Wednesday, including King's Cross (pictured)

Multiple signal failures were causing major disruption on trains between London and Luton, National Rail said.

Operator East Midlands Railway (EMR) said the issue prevented it from running services in and out of St Pancras.

A Thameslink train calling at London Luton Airport was delayed by nearly two hours.

National Rail warned cancellations and severe delays were expected until the end of Wednesday.

EMR later said there would be at least "minor disruption" until 10:00 GMT on Thursday because of "further work" that would be carried out overnight "to the signalling".

The fault was related to work over Christmas to install a new system to control signals on the line.

Route director Gary Walsh said: "I am very sorry that our engineering work is affecting passengers today.

"There is a fault with part of the signalling control system which means we need to reduce the number of trains which are able to run."

Thameslink said: "Please do not attempt travel between Bedford and London Bridge until further notice.

"The earlier disruption caused by multiple signal failures has now reoccurred.

"Due to the level of disruption, passengers are advised to delay travelling until later."

National Rail posted advice to passengers and alternative travel options on its website.

It said: "A fault with the signalling system between St Albans and London St Pancras International means that trains may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes.

"Major disruption is expected until the end of the day."

Elsewhere, flooding caused by Storm Gerrit has disrupted train services in Scotland and the North of England.

All lines between Carlisle, in Cumbria, and Lockerbie, in Scotland, were blocked on Wednesday morning due to the flooding across all lines.

Services have also been impacted across parts of north-east England.