London Waterloo: Rail disruption to last until end of day

Fourteen out of 24 platforms were closed earlier, Network Rail said

Rail disruption at London Waterloo is expected until the end of the day, after passengers were urged to avoid the station due to signalling problems.

South Western Railway (SWR) issued the warning for customers attempting to travel to and from the station, which is the busiest in Britain.

Although a temporary fix is in place, a significantly reduced service continues to operate on limited lines.

Many platforms were closed throughout the day, the rail firm said.

Two services an hour have been running between Reading and London, while other stations including Queenstown Road and Hampton Court have had no service at all.

Demand outstripped supply at the rail information desk all morning, overrun by customers unable to travel as fresh cancellations were announced.

The number of people arriving with suitcases suggested most remained unaware of the disruption.

Most services have been disrupted

Network Rail, which is responsible for signalling, confirmed there had been a "major power failure" to cabling equipment that powers signals controlling the Waterloo area.

Mark Killick, Wessex route director for Network Rail, said it was "working hard to reintroduce as many trains as we can" but warned of further disruption.

He said: "Something that affects half of Waterloo is a major issue and [we] absolutely recognise this has wrecked people's plans today so I'm really sorry for the disruption.

"Our teams have been working since the small hours of the morning to find the issue and resolve it and the great news is that we have now done that."

Emma, from Southampton, told the BBC she had been planning a day trip to London to visit the Science Museum and Natural History Museum with her young daughter but, "everything has been cancelled and we can only get to London if we were willing to do a three-hour detour".

The trip had already been postponed once as a result of train strikes.

Martin Benko said he would have to get an alternative train and taxi to reach his workplace

Commuters faced difficulties getting to work. Martin Benko said: "I have a presentation in two hours," and the signal failure at Waterloo would add "two to three hours minimum" to his journey.

Others decided to give up on their journeys altogether after realising there were no suitable alternative routes.

Gareth Dutton said he was meant to travel to Southampton for a gig but, given he had to be there for a certain time, had decided to "turn around and go home".

Another commuter, Anna Henderson, said she had to call her boss to "tell him I'm not going to make it in", as she was unable to get to Wimbledon.

London Waterloo is the busiest railway station in Britain

Peter Williams, SWR's customer and commercial director, said: "We are very sorry for the disruption this morning.

"While the problem is in the Waterloo area we do expect the wider network to be affected as trains and their crews will be displaced."

London Waterloo is the busiest railway station in Britain with 41.4 million passengers travelling through every year.

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