Double whammy of Tube and rail delays

Tens of thousands of Tube and mainline rail commuters suffered major disruption today getting into and around London.

For many it was a double whammy - hit first by delays on mainline rail only to be greeted by more chaos on the Tube.

A signal failure at Baker street shortly after 7.30 am and just as the peak period was building caused huge problems on four lines; the District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City.

District line services were suspended between High Street Kensington and Edgware Road; on the Metropolitan line trains were halted between Baker Street and Aldgate.

Both Circle and Hammersmith & City line services suffered severe delays.

The District and Metropolitan lines later reopened but delays continued.

RMT leader Bob Crow repeated claims for a public inquiry saying London Underground staffing and maintenance cuts had resulted in ongoing daily disruption.

He accused Mayor Boris Johnson and Tube chiefs of ignoring the problems and of "living on a wing and a prayer" as the Olympics approached.

Mainline rail services, particularly into Victoria, suffered delays because of an on-going Network Rail signalling problem at busy Norwood Junction.

The same fault also resulted in delays for commuters getting home last night.

Southern, First Capital Connect and London Overground services were all affected.

Trains stacked up behind one another on the approach to London getting through Norwood Junction.

Greater Anglia and Stansted Express services to and from Liverpool Street station were delayed by a broken down train at Stansted Mountfitchet.

London Underground Network Operations Director, Nigel Holness, said: “At 7.06am a signal failure at Baker Street resulted in delays on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith and City and Circle lines. Engineers fixed the problem by 7.53am and we are working to restore a good service as soon as possible. There are currently minor delays on the Metropolitan line south of Harrow and severe delays on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines. All other lines are running a good service. We would like to apologise to customers who had their journeys disrupted this morning.”