By Guy Taylor
A ‘major’ signalling fault has caused severe train delays at the station today, which look set to continue until throughout the afternoon.
Trouble began at 3am this morning, as the main power supply to the signaling system on platforms 1 to 4 failed.
Angry London commuters were told by Network Rail, “do not travel to Waterloo” due to the problems, leading to mass disruption, missed meetings, and people not able to get to work.
The signaling problem has caused a reduced service all day, with the first train departing the station at 10:12am.
Network Rail Wessex identified the fault at 10:15am and just over an hour later, had restored power to the signaling system.
London’s rail services are under increased scrutiny given recent strike action and city workers have taken to Twitter to voice their frustrations.
Rob Gill, managing director and co-founder of Mortgage Broker’s Altura Fin, tweeted that his meeting had been “cancelled already today because of this. Just what we need on top of the strikes!”
At 12:28pm, South Western Railway (SWR) announced that the problem had been fixed but that travelers should expect “severe disruption” for the remainder of the day.
Mark Killick, Network Rails Wessex Route Director, apologised to customers at 2:16pm, stating “I’d like to say sorry to our customers for the disruption they’ve experienced today.”
“At about 3am this morning, we lost the power to our signaling system, which meant half of the platforms here at London Waterloo have not been able to be used this morning. That’s meant we’ve had to really reduce the number of trains which are able to run.”
“I recognise that’s had a huge impact on people’s plans.”
Passengers have been offered a full refund for pre-purchased tickets and SWR have offered customers the option of using their tickets on tomorrow’s service.
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