Commuter chaos as trains cancelled across parts of UK in major signalling fault
Rail commuters face major disruption this morning due to a widespread signalling failure.
Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express, which operate in south-east England, said shortly before 4am that “no trains will be running until further notice”.
Some routes reopened by 7am but others remain closed or have severe delays. There are no Southern trains between Littlehampton and London Victoria, while services between Brighton and Chichester are heavily disrupted and reduced to an hourly timetable.
Thameslink is not running services between Cambridge and Brighton, while there is a reduced service at Preston Park, Hassocks, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath towards Gatwick Airport.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “At 3.04am there was a loss of power across some of the UK Power Network which significantly impacted our Three Bridges Signalling Centre which controls the signalling, the railway’s traffic light system, across the majority of our Sussex route.
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Rail commuters faced major disruption on Monday morning (PA)“All signalling was restored at 6.30am and, while some Southern services have resumed operating across the Sussex route, a number of Southern and Thameslink services remain significantly disrupted and there are currently no Gatwick Express services in operation until further notice.
“We’re really sorry to any passengers disrupted this morning and we encourage passengers to check with their train operator before travelling for the latest information and updates.”
Southern wrote: "Due to a major signalling fault across the whole Southern Network, no trains will be running until further notice. Do not travel on any Southern route until further notice."
Southern said services between Littlehampton and London Victoria will not run, as well as services between Redhill and Tonbridge will not run, and services between Eastbourne and London Victoria will call additionally at Three Bridges.
Thameslink added: "We are currently monitoring the situation and will provide updates as soon as possible. If you are currently travelling, please listen to on-board or station announcements. If you are not yet travelling, please do not attempt to travel until further notice."
Thameslink said that services between Cambridge and Brighton will not run and services between Bedford and Gatwick Airport via Redhill will not run.
A GTR spokesperson said: "At around 3am this morning, there was a UK Power Network outage affecting all track circuits and signalling south of East Croydon through to Lancing. Power returned very quickly but some of the signalling systems required manual resets. This had caused most of the signalling system to fail and meant trains would not be able to run.
"The fault has mostly been rectified and services are now able to run on most routes but some issues are still affecting services as the signalling issue also prevented some of our early morning services to be unable to leave the depots where they are kept overnight. We apologise for any disruption caused to your journey."
Meanwhile, Great Western Railway and Elizabeth line services are disrupted by a landslip between Twyford and Reading, affecting routes to and from London Paddington. Two out of four lines in the area have been taken out of use, and the capacity has been reduced on the remaining lines.
National Rail said: "A landslip between London Paddington and Reading means that trains running between these stations may be delayed by up to 60 minutes, cancelled or revised.
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"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."
Commuters have this morning shared their frustrations over the latest set of delays. One wrote on X, formally known as Twitter: "This is not what we want to read on a Monday morning. Travelling with southern rail is exhausting! There is never ever a smooth service."
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