BBC London
BBCThe major signal obstacles at London Waterloo Station have caused serious confusion, urging customers not to travel Southwest Railway (SWR) trains until at least 21:00 BST.
Service was cancelled in the morning, affecting routes across the network, with some passengers stuck.
The signaling issue has now been fixed, with SWR saying it will “gradually reintroducing train services.”
However, it is still advised to avoid travel if possible, as crews and trains will be returned to the correct location before regular service resumes.
SWR and Network Rail apologise for the confusion, saying in a joint statement:
“We expect great disruptions on long distance routes to Exeter St. David, Portsmouth and Weymouth until the end of the day.”
It is said that passengers cannot charge money from the SWR for taxis, but tickets can be used on certain routes with London buses, Falcon buses, Stagecoach South and More Buses, while certain train journeys on the London Underground, Cross Country, Southern and Great Western Railways.
Jessica Halstead, who was about to travel with her two children, told the BBC that she was “frustrated” after waiting for more than an hour on the station concourse.
“It’s very difficult to try and entertain kids on the station platform… Should I have lunch, when will the train go? That’s pretty destructive,” Halstead said.
“At what point do you give up?”
While I saw passengers sitting on the floor of the concourse while waiting for the train in Waterloo, customers on the SWR network also experienced delays and cancellations.
Rory Smith, who was about to travel from Southampton to help set up a Camp Best Fibal event in Shropshire, told the BBC that his train had been cancelled and his travel app was not up to date.
“If things run a little more seamless, it would be ideal… I don’t feel like I have to scramble to find an alternative route.”
Dan Cokelly, who visited from the US, said he had to get off several trains on his journey from Waterloo to Southampton after he got on.
“I’m frustrated,” he said.
“This is the third time we’ve used a British rail in some sort of disruption.”
Network Rail operations director Tom Desmond told BBC London that he was “incredibly sorry” about the signal’s collapse. This was the first issue that appeared on Saturday.
“This was a technical drawback I worked so hard all weekend, which happened on Saturday mornings, recovered until Saturday afternoon and Sunday, and failed again this morning.”
He said he was “confident” that the underlying cause of the problem has been resolved and reliable services have been resumed.
“The team is working very hard to make sure it’s robust and that every train, every driver and every train crew is back where it’s needed to get everyone home this afternoon,” Desmond said.
According to National Rail, the signaling issue was reported around 5:30, with 14 platforms in London Waterloo being unused.
SWR was the first operator to acquire public ownership by the Labour Government in May, and had the second train company C2C nationalized by workers on Sunday.
Operator C2C runs services between London Fentch Church Street and South Essex.
