Gatwick passengers hit by rail disruption after major flight chaos
Passengers travelling to and from Gatwick Airport have faced a second day of disruption, after a broken-down freight train caused major problems on the railway.
The rail disruption came as passengers were already dealing with the aftermath of Tuesday's major air traffic control failure, which caused widespread flight cancellations and delays at Gatwick and airports across the UK.
A freight train broke down between Purley and Gatwick Airport shortly after 7am on Wednesday, blocking some southbound lines and causing services to be delayed, cancelled or altered.
Thameslink warned passengers that services between Purley and Gatwick could be affected, while services between Bedford and Three Bridges were suspended.
Network Rail engineers attended the scene and a rescue train was sent to move the broken-down freight train.
The disruption was initially expected to last until 11am, but this was later extended to 1.30pm.
Passengers were offered alternative routes, with National Rail allowing tickets to be used at no extra cost on services including Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express.
Great Western Railway (GWR) customers were also allowed to use Thameslink and Gatwick Express services between Redhill and Gatwick Airport at no extra cost.
At around 11am, an update from Thameslink read: “The freight train has now been moved however some lines will continue to be blocked as there has been a reported oil leak in this area.”
The lines reopened at around 12.30pm, although trains could still be cancelled, delayed by up to 40 minutes or revised.
The disruption was declared cleared at around 1pm.
It came as Gatwick continued to deal with the knock-on effects of Tuesday's NATS technical failure, which caused thousands of flight cancellations and left aircraft, crew and passengers out of position.
Gatwick has said flights have resumed, but warned that it would take time for operations to fully return to normal.
The rail industry has separately introduced relaxed ticket rules for passengers affected by the airline disruption, allowing eligible passengers with flights cancelled or rebooked to use their rail tickets on different dates or alternative routes.
GWR also warned passengers that services between Reading and Gatwick were being affected by travel delays.
The company warned of disruption between Reading and London Paddington following ‘vandalism of railway equipment’, with that separate disruption expected to continue until the end of September 15.