Two days of rail chaos as cables collapse onto commuter lines

 
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Tens of thousands of rail commuters faced terrible delays again today after 25,000 volt overhead power cables collapsed onto some of the busiest lines serving London.

Hundreds of commuters had to be led along the tracks to safety last night from stranded trains between St Pancras International and Bedford stations.

Disruption is forecast to continue into tomorrow with early trains delayed or cancelled.

Engineers will work throughout tonight to get services running again.

Two kilometres of cables crashed down from 16 massive steel masts yesterday lunchtime just north of Radlett, Herts, closing four lines.

Commuters who faced huge disruption last night face more problems getting home this evening with passengers advised to checked before they travel or seek alternative routes.

Network Rail engineers reopened two of the four lines early today; the other two are expected to reopen at lunchtime - but only for trains being hauled by diesel engines.

There is massive disruption and cancellations for First Capital Connect through-London services between Bedford and Brighton; Southeastern and East Midlands Trains.

All routes, including those to Gatwick and Luton Airports, are delayed.

Tickets were being accepted on other routes serving the capital.

Eurostar services using St Pancras International are not affected.

NR denied claims from the RMT union that lines had collapsed due to the weight of ice but engineers don’t yet know why the cables came down.

A spokesman said: “Our main priority at the moment is getting services running again. The damaged cables and other equipment will be taken to our laboratories for specialist examination to find out exactly what happened.

“We had more than 100 engineers working throughout last night and they will be out again tonight.

“We apologise to passengers for the huge disruption they are having but we really are doing all we can to get services back to normal.”

All first class and other ticket restrictions were lifted to help ease overcrowding.

Bob Crow, the RMT union boss, said: “This union has been raising serious concerns about the shortage of overhead line crew and capacity on Britain’s railways for a number of years now.

“We are demanding a full review of overhead line maintenance and emergency staffing numbers.”

Meanwhile thousands more commuters using South West Trains services into mainline Waterloo station suffered delays due to emergency engineering work at Wimbledon. Some trains were cancelled or diverted.

Your say: View from the platform

Saiwei Zheng, 24

Student from Luton: “I was on my way home from a three-day holiday in Penzance so it was really inconvenient.”

Ian Taylor

Asbestos consultant from Radlett: “I got to Radlett station at about 6.50am this morning but didn’t get onto a train until about 7.25am.”

Alissa Redmond, 22

Civil servant, Hammersmith: “There’s no point getting annoyed, but it was annoying nonetheless.”

Rob Butler, 24

from East Croydon: “It was awful. A trip that should have been three hours door-to-door ended up being nearly five.”

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