Thousands of passengers face disruption on the railways after major damage to overhead wires, causing mayhem at London King’s Cross.
Sunday journeys have been thrown into chaos after the wires broke between Peterborough and Stevenage, blocking part of the East Coast Main Line.
Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, LNER, Lumo and Thameslink are slated for disruption until the end of the day, with train cancellations and up to two-hour delays in the pipeline.
The rail route is a main artery connecting Scotland, East Midlands, Yorkshire and London King’s Cross.
The Doncaster area has become a bottleneck as a result, and delays could spill into other parts of the network, National Rail warned.
LNER told passengers ‘do not travel’ today due to the disruption, saying tickets marked for today can be used tomorrow and Tuesday.
Stressed passengers are reporting huge queues at London King’s Cross station as people tried to get through to the platforms.
A passenger said: ‘Anyone looking to travel from Kings Cross. Its chaos. No announcement.’
One dad said his 18-year-old daughter was ‘stuck at London King’s Cross’ without help, and she was trying to travel back home for ‘a big job interview’ in the morning.
National Rail said: ‘Train services are currently being disrupted because overhead electric wires have been damaged and are down in the area.
‘For the safety of customers, staff and emergency responders, train services through the affected area have been suspended or severely restricted while specialist engineers assess the damage and begin repair work.
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‘Overhead line equipment carries high-voltage electricity and extensive safety checks must be completed before any repairs can take place and train services can safely resume. Recovery and repair work can be complex and may take some time, particularly if multiple sections of equipment have been damaged.
‘As a result, trains may be delayed, revised, cancelled or unable to operate through the affected area.
‘Great Northern / Thameslink strongly recommend checking your journey before travelling and allowing extra time if you need to travel today.’
Full list of affected rail routes
Here are the rail operators and routes which are affected by the disruption from the overhead wires.
- Grand Central between Sunderland / Bradford Interchange / Halifax and London Kings Cross
- Great Northern between Peterborough and London Kings Cross
- Hull Trains between Beverley / Hull and London Kings Cross
- LNER between Aberdeen / Edinburgh / Newcastle / York / Harrogate / Skipton / Bradford Forster Square / Leeds / Lincoln and London Kings Cross
- Lumo between Glasgow Queen Street / Edinburgh / Newcastle and London Kings Cross
- Thameslink between Peterborough and London Kings Cross
The UK rail industry has faced a difficult couple of days after two train derailments.
At first, a Southern train veered off the tracks near Lewes on Thursday during one of the hottest days of the month.
Less than 24 hours later, a Greater Anglia train derailed near Wickford, Essex, with dozens of passengers on board.
How to claim delay repay
If you are caught in the disruption today, and your delay is more than 15 minutes or a service is cancelled, you might be entitled to claim delay repay.
Depending on the severity of the delay or cancellation, you might be entitled to a full refund or compensation.
For delays, note down the length of the delay and keep hold of your ticket if it’s not an e-ticket.
You will usually have to claim refunds and compensation directly from your train company.
Claims will have a cut-off date, so it is best to submit it as soon as possible after the incident.
A full list of train operators can be found on the National Rail delay repay website.
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