Landslip causes rail chaos for morning commuters
Commuters travelling to London are facing major disruption on Monday with services affected by a landslip and a “substantial” signalling fault.
National Rail warned passengers on Great Western Railway and the Elizabeth Line they face delays and cancellations until the end of the day because of a landslip between London Paddington and Reading.
Two out of four lines in the area have been blocked off after an “unstable area of surrounding earth” was identified between Twyford and Reading.
The landslip has affected various Great Western Railway routes connecting London to the South West and Wales as well as the the Elizabeth Line between Abbey Wood to London Paddington and Reading.
The National Rail website reads: “An issue has arisen with the state of some trees at the side of a cutting between Twyford and Reading where an unstable area of surrounding earth has been observed.
“Owing to its location, it is not an issue that can be easily resolved.
“Until the matter has been addressed, two of the four running lines in the area will be taken out of use and the remaining line capacity will not be able to carry the full advertised train service.”
Gatwick Express disrupted
Separately, travellers on Southern and Thameslink services have been told to expect major disruption on services between Brighton and London until midday because of a “substantial” signalling fault.
The disruption is affecting several routes including the Gatwick Express, which runs between London Victoria and Brighton, and Southern services between London Victoria and East Sussex.
Thameslink trains between Cambridge and Bedford to Brighton have also been affected.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “Shortly after 3am, a UK Power Networks outage significantly impacted our Three Bridges Signalling Centre, which controls the railway’s traffic light system across the majority of our Sussex route.
“Although power was restored at 6.30am, it’s still had a significant impact on our customers.
“In addition, an issue with a set of points at Haywards Heath – the moveable sections of track that move trains from one track to another – reduced the number of trains we could run through the station as two of the platforms were unavailable until the issue was fixed at around 11am.
“We’ve also found a problem with a set of points at Preston Park which is restricting the number of trains we can run to and from Brighton and Hove.
“Our engineers are on site and working to fix this as quickly as we can.
“A number of Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services remain significantly disrupted until further notice.
“We continue to reintroduce services where possible and anticipate a much improved service for this evening’s peak.
“We’re really sorry to any passengers disrupted this morning and encourage everyone to check with their train operator before travelling for the latest information and updates.”
Journeys likely to take an hour longer
Passengers have been warned it is likely usual journeys will take up to an hour longer with travellers likely to need an alternative route or to change trains more often.
Southeastern commuters in Kent were also warned to expect disruption throughout the week following a landslip that opened up next to the tracks in Newington on Friday.
Network Rail have dispatched a team of engineers to stabilise the slippage with six miles between Rainham and Sittingbourne closed until the end of the week.
