This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Passengers are being advised not to travel to the country’s busiest railway station – Waterloo – because of a signal failure.



South West Trains warned that services across the whole of its network, including to and from London Waterloo, may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or revised, although it has now been able to resume running trains.



A message to passengers warned: “Our control room has confirmed that we have lost all signalling in the Earlsfield area [of south London] and are not able to run trains into London Waterloo.



“Due to the location, our ability to run a train service this morning has been severely hampered. Our engineers are on site and are working hard to restore the signalling so we are able to run trains.

“We strongly advise you not to travel towards London Waterloo. If you do travel, please consider alternative arrangements and use other train operating companies.



“A queueing system may be implemented at your local station to help us get you to where you need to go safely. Some trains that commenced their journeys before this incident occurred, may be altered or revised at short notice. Some trains may also be diverted via an alternative route.”

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Owing to a major signalling failure overnight, mainline services through Clapham Junction to Waterloo will be delayed or cancelled this morning.



“While our engineers fixed the fault at around 5.30am, knock-on cancellations and delays of up to 90 minutes will continue throughout the morning. We advise passengers to avoid travelling until after 9am if possible.



“We’re sorry for the disruption this will cause to people’s journeys this morning, and will continue to work to resume a normal service as quickly as possible.”



