London Tube delays: Commuters braced for rush hour misery as District line remains shut after derailment

The train derailed at Wimbledon at just before 6am on Monday.
@dscanlan23
Francesca Gillett6 November 2017

Tube passengers are being warned of a second bout of travel disruption this evening as the District line remains partly shut.

Fire crews evacuated around 300 people from the broken train, which spilled across the tracks blocking the busy District line route. Paramedics checked four passengers over but no one required hospital treatment.

The derailment sparked severe delays across the line and on the SWR mainline between Waterloo and Wimbledon.

It was followed by a string of other signal failures and power outages across the transport network which brought misery for passengers.

Vauxhall was among the Underground stations which were packed full because of Tube disruption.
Nick Graham

Engineers have been working all day to reopen the stretch of the District line but Transport for London said they expect repairs to take all day. It is thought the track will not reopen until Tuesday morning, a spokesman said.

For SWR passengers, the rail company said services were set to be back to normal by 3.30pm. Although all of SWR’s lines have reopened, the rail route between Wimbledon and Clapham Junction remains slightly disrupted.

The string of rail problems hit as temperatures dropped below zero following milder weather last week and in October.

Commuters complained of being forced to wait in the cold for buses because of the shutdown.

The rear of the train derailed at just before 6am on Monday, sparking a day of disruption.
PA

At its peak, seven TfL lines were affected. A power failure at Queen’s Park caused severe delays on the Bakerloo, Northern and Metropolitan lines while a signal problem at Barking sparked delays on the District, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines.

Another signal failure at Wembley Park – caused by the power failure at Queen’s Park – led to more minor delays on the Metropolitan lines.

Even the London Overground did not escape unscathed as two stretches were suspended due to repair work.

Nigel Holness, the director of network operations, said: “"I apologise to customers whose journeys on the Tube were disrupted this morning due to a power failure at Aldgate East as well as by signal failures at Barking and Wembley Park.

“Our engineers were on site and worked hard to restore services as soon as possible.

The status of the London travel network at 7.20am today

“The derailment of a South Western Railways service at Wimbledon has also affected the District line, which remains suspended between Parsons Green and Wimbledon.

“Our engineers are supporting Network Rail with recovery work, which is likely to continue for the rest of the day."

A spokesman for SWR said: “The slow-speed rear-axle derailment on the 04.54 Basingstoke to Waterloo service occurred between Wimbledon and Wimbledon Park.

“Lines are open but there is some congestion and delays to South Western Railway services into London this morning.

"The train is eight carriages in length and it was the rear axle of the 8th coach which came off the track at slow speed."

Officials from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch arrived at the scene in south west London early on Monday. They will investigate to find the cause of the derailment in a bid to improve rail safety.

The RMT union, whose members are set to strike this week over the role of train guards and driver-only trains, is using today's disruption to back up its argument.

"This incident shows the importance of having guards on our trains to manage these emergency situations," the union's general secretary Mick Cash said.

"[It] exposes South Western Railway's dangerous gamble of axing the guard from their services".

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