Passengers have faced travel chaos at one of London's busiest railway stations as dozens of services were affected by delays and cancellations.
A “failure of the electricity supply” meant several routes on the railway line between Paddington Station and Southall were blocked on Thursday evening.
National Rail said major disruption was expected until the end of the day - with Heathrow Express, Great Western Railway and Elizabeth Line services affected.
The power outage has caused major problems for passengers wanting to travel to and from London Heathrow by rail with both the Heathrow Express stopped and Elizabeth line part-suspended.
London Paddington Elizabeth line is clogged up.#Paddington pic.twitter.com/HqZjxN9yCJ
— Vambak (@vambak) September 18, 2025
Network Rail issued a do not travel warning for those wanting to travel between Reading and Paddington.
Great Western Railway issued the same warning to passengers saying: “Customers should NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL between London Paddington and Reading. A fault with the Overline Line Equipment (OLE) means all lines are blocked. We are extremely sorry for the disruption this is causing.
“Engineers are working hard to resolve the issue but all services between Paddington and Reading are cancelled until further notice.”
Transport for London was warning on its website: “No service between Paddington and Heathrow / Reading, and SEVERE DELAYS on the rest of the line due to an ongoing overhead power supply failure in the Paddington area. “
In a message on social media Heathrow Express said: “Due to a significant incident outside of our control, there are currently no Heathrow Express services running. We are actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Due to a significant incident outside of our control, there are currently no Heathrow Express services running. We are actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Current service information can be found here: https://t.co/YYbJsgSKSq pic.twitter.com/BAbg2Hx62P
— Heathrow Express (@HeathrowExpress) September 18, 2025
Commuters struggling to reach their destinations have vented their anger on social media.
One person wrote: “Paddington chaos tonight. Electricity down.”
A spokesperson for Great Western Railway said: “Due to failure of the electricity supply between London Paddington and Southall some lines are blocked.
“Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled or delayed.”
It follows a similar incident in January when an electricity fault caused similar problems.
