Angry commuters faced fresh travel chaos after a signal fault sparked major rush hour delays at some of London's busiest stations.
Pictures shared on social media showed passengers crammed onto concourses at Victoria and London Bridge following severe disruption on the Southern network.
The mayhem was caused by a signalling problem at Balcombe, West Sussex, which resulted in delays at least an hour long on Southern and Gatwick Express services.
Software engineer Karl Tinawi, 29, told the Standard: "London Bridge on arrival was packed with people both above ground and on the lower concourse.
"A stampede of frustrated people were descending to platform 14 when the platform was finally shown on the screens. Definitely stressful and chaotic.
"Some passengers took it upon themselves to inform others of whatever information they managed to gather by harassing station staff.
"The atmosphere on the train was quiet but tense. An entire town seemed to be in my carriage."
Meanwhile Chris Pearson described the scenes at Victoria station as a "circus of chaos".
Another man added: "Pretty disastrous commute out of #victoriastation tonight."
Emma Jane said: "So after being delayed every journey this week we now have #balcombe."
Charlotte Banks added: "Another fun day of travel with @SouthernRailUK what's the excuse for the delays at London Bridge today? This is so tiresome."
A Southern Rail spokesman said: "An earlier fault with the signalling system between Brighton and Three Bridges is causing disruption to Southern and Gatwick Express services leaving Brighton and London VIctoria.
"Network Rail engineers have now fixed the fault. However, disruption is expected until the end of the day."
The company has said tickets will be accepted on other routes, as well as the Tube and buses.
The fresh chaos comes the day after 17 London stations were shut during rush hour in what one commuter said was the worst evening in her seven years working in London.
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Tottenham Court Road and Holborn stations were shut at around 6pm due to overcrowding, while similar scenes were witnessed around King’s Cross, Knightsbridge, Oxford Circus, Victoria and Bond Street.
The mayhem followed on from a day of disruption on the London Underground which began during morning rush hour when signal failures sparked severe delays on the Victoria, Northern and District lines.
