Thousands of beleaguered Waterloo main line commuters recovering from the month long strike suffered further today after two major signal failures caused huge disruption to and from the UK’s busiest station.
It came as South Western Railway (SWR) launched its new timetable aimed at providing 80 new services a week promising “improved journey opportunities.”
SWR warned train services running to and from London Waterloo would be disrupted until at least 10am.
Passengers at Vauxhall Station wanting to travel south are being advised to travel into London Waterloo and to get another train back out again.
“Trains will be unable to stop at Platform 8 at Vauxhall. If you are at Vauxhall please travel to London Waterloo to board trains to stations beyond Vauxhall on our suburban line,” SWR said in a statement on their website.
“The Windsor, Reading and Hounslow services are not affected.”
Trains from London Waterloo that terminate at Guildford and Woking will run non stop between Waterloo and Surbiton.
Disruption lasted throughout the morning peak and into the afternoon.
Passengers took to Twitter to complain of cancelled and delayed trains during the morning rush hour.
One person wrote there was no clear information on what was happening with the trains.
“Just keeps getting later / delayed and never an announcement at Thames Ditton about what is happening,” they said.
Another said they were unsure how they would be able to get to work.
“How am I meant to get to work today? Why has the train been cancelled to Byfleet and Hawe from Wimbledon.”
One passenger said the service was “appalling”.
“Why are the trains on the twickenham line delayed AGAIN this morning? Your service is absolutely appalling,” they said.
A second signal failure in the Earlsfield area added to the problems with further trains cancelled and others forced to run at reduced speed; trains were non-stopping at the busy commuter station.
Tickets were being accepted on buses between Clapham Junction and Wimbledon.
An SWR spokesperson apologised for the disruption which was the responsibility of Network Rail. He said “Engineers are working hard to fix this issue as soon as possible.
“We are very sorry for the disruption this may cause to your journey.”
The month long strike by RMT union train staff in a long running dispute over changes to the role of the guard and driver-only operation (DOO) ended last Wednesday.
Then, during Thursday and Friday, SWR was forced to remain on an emergency timetable because staff had been on strike for so long they had to be retrained on safety duties.
.jpg?w=600)
