London commuters have been told to “avoid the Northern line” as signal failures cause travel chaos in the capital for the fourth day.
Travellers using the Northern line have experienced lengthy delays, overcrowding and cancellations since Sunday evening.
The equipment that informs the network of the location of trains has failed near Stockwell, meaning Transport for London (TfL) controllers have to manually “talk” drivers through the area. The process considerably reduces train frequency.
The cause of the issue has yet to be identified by TfL despite days of engineering work.
A statement by TfL reads: “Please avoid the Northern line where possible. You will find it quicker to use alternative routes if you can.”
The busy Underground line connects north and south London with routes through central London via Charing Cross and Bank.
London buses, Southeastern, Thameslink, trams and South Western Railway are all accepting valid tickets for any reasonable alternative route.
The service was also suspended on Tuesday between Stockwell and Morden while a signal failure was fixed at Tooting Broadway.
Nick Dent, TfL’s director of customer operations, said: “We apologise to customers affected by delays on the Northern line since Sunday. We have identified a fault with the signalling equipment around the Stockwell area that means our service controllers need to manually talk trains through this part of the network.
“Our engineers are working hard to identify and fix the fault, including deploying advanced test equipment, and we will do all we can to restore a good service as soon as possible. We are advising customers to allow extra time for their journeys, and to check before they travel using TfL Journey Planner or the TfL Go app.”
Elsewhere, passengers are experiencing delays on the Lioness line after a tree fell onto the tracks at Carpenders Park. Overground trains between Watford Junction and London Euston are affected.
In September, commuters faced travel misery as Tube strikes halted transport across London.
From Sunday 7 September, different groups of RMT members walked out across the Tube network, with every Underground line hit during the period.
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