Rail chaos continues as '˜temporary fix' in place

Sussex commuters have faced '˜significant disruption' as a signalling fault at Streatham closed the main railway line up to London.

Network Rail has apologised and said it has put ‘a temporary fix’ in place, but that disruption is likely to continue for the rest of the day.

Southern Rail said it expects delays on its services until at least 7am tomorrow (July 6), after advising passengers not to travel to London Victoria today (July 5).

The earlier loss of signalling – the railway’s equivalent of traffic lights – meant no Southern or Gatwick Express services were able to serve London Victoria station and Thameslink services were unable to run on the Wimbledon loop.

Passengers at Brighton station this morning (Photograph: Eddie Mitchell)

Network Rail said trains to and from London Victoria are now being gradually reintroduced – though significant disruption is likely for the remainder of the day on Southern, Gatwick Express and Thameslink services owing to the displacement of trains and train crew.

John Halsall, Network Rail’s managing director for the South East route, said: “I would like to offer a sincere apology to everyone who has had their journey disrupted today. Our job is to provide a reliable railway for train operators and the travelling public and today it’s clear we’ve failed in that task.

“We’ve now been able to restore signalling and trains are beginning to run again to and from London Victoria, though passengers are advised to check before travelling throughout the day as knock-on impacts are likely to be significant.”

Nick Brown, Chief Operating Officer at Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We are working hard with our colleagues at Network Rail following a major power failure at Streatham this morning. We apologise to our passengers caught up in the disruption to services. Tickets are being accepted on alternative routes. We encourage any passengers delayed by 15 minutes or more to claim Delay Repay compensation via our websites.”

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