Southern rail and Thameslink services suffered a “major signalling fault” – meaning some commuters are facing train delays and cancellations this morning. At around 4am on Monday, both Southern rail and Thameslink warned their customers they had suffered a “major signalling fault” on their networks and “no trains” would be running until further notice.
Passengers were warned “do not travel”.
By 7am, some services had resumed – however, Gatwick Express trains are not running, and all services between Littlehampton and London Victoria have been cancelled. The disruption is expected to last until 3pm.
Reduced services are operating between Three Bridges and Brighton, and Brighton and Chichester. Passengers on these routes have been asked to delay travel until later or allow “at least” an extra 60 minutes for journeys.
Queuing systems may be in place at some stations and services which are running are likely to be “extremely busy,” Southern has warned.
The company has provided a list of alternative services customers can use their Southern tickets to travel on, including buses.
Thameslink resumed usual service on many of its lines, however, trains are not running between Cambridge and Brighton.
Passengers who were intending to travel on this route can use their tickets on Great Northern trains between Cambridge and London, and any alternative Southern or Thameslink service from London to Brighton.
At around 8.30am, they announced that services between London Bridge and Charlton are also disrupted.
These will either be cancelled or run via an alternative route until midday. As a result, Thameslink trains will not stop at Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill or Westcombe Park.
The major signalling fault hit all routes between London and the South Coast in the early hours of Monday morning, Southern rail said. While the fault was mostly rectified by 7am, Southern were still dealing with points failures at Haywards Heath, and between Preston Park and Hove.
Elsewhere, commuters in Berkshire have today faced travel disruption due to a landslip. Just two trains per hour are running on the Elizabeth line between Maidenhead and Reading, and Great Western Rail (GWR) services between Didcot and Newbury to London Paddington are terminating at Reading.
Services between London Paddington and Reading are likely to be delayed, GWR warned.