Commuters warned ‘don’t journey’ as prepare derailment and signalling faults trigger journey chaos in London and on strains to Britain’s busiest airports
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Commuters have been warned ‘do not travel’ after a train derailment and signalling faults caused travel chaos in London and on lines to Britain’s busiest airports.
Train operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express – all part of the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise in south-east England – urged passengers not to travel on Wednesday morning ‘if at all possible’ because of ‘multiple incidents’.
Issues include a train derailment inside a depot in Selhurst, south-east London, and a fault with the signalling system between London Blackfriars and Norwood Junction.
Southern told passengers: ‘If you are travelling on our network today, your journey may be delayed and you may need to use an alternative route to reach your destination.
‘If you can, please delay your journey until later today. Please check your train before travelling and allow an additional 60 minutes for your journey.’
The chaos has extended into the capital with thousands of Londoners struggling to get into work this morning amid a raft of delays on the city’s Underground and Overground networks.
The Windrush Overground line is closed in south-east London between West Croydon and Sydenham as a knock-on effect of the derailment in nearby Selhurst.
Meanwhile, the Central line – which stretches across the heart of the capital from Epping in the east to Ruislip in the west – is suffering from severe delays leaving commuters scrambling for alternative modes of travel.
The delayed service was put down to a signal failure at North Acton earlier in the morning.
National Rail Enquiries said the signalling fault means fewer rail lines are available between Norwood Junction and Blackfriars, and trains running on the available lines must travel at slower speeds than normal.
Commuters have been warned ‘do not travel’ after a train derailment in Selhurst, London, pictured, and signalling faults caused travel chaos in the city
That means services are suspended on routes between: London Bridge and East Grinstead; Orpington and Luton; Brighton and Cambridge; and Bedford and Three Bridges.
Trains that usually run between Welwyn Garden City and Sevenoaks are only operating between London Blackfriars and Sevenoaks.
Services between Rainham and Luton are only running between Rainham and Dartford.
Trains that normally operate between Horsham and Peterborough, or Brighton and Bedford, may run via Selhurst instead of Norwood Junction.
GTR, which also includes operator Great Northern, is the UK’s largest railway franchise in terms of the number of passengers carried.
Some 18 per cent of train journeys in the UK are made on GTR services, according to the company.
