Train disruption latest: Commuters braced for ‘major delays’ across southern England after radio fault

Gatwick Express has said that while the incident with the radio has now been resolved, services can still expect delays up to 90 minutes or cancellations.

An update said: “The fault with the radio system between the driver and the signaller that is affecting services on the South England network has now been resolved.

“Some services may still be delayed by up to 90 minutes or cancelled whilst service recovers.”

Commuters are braced for a chaotic rush hour after a day of disruption and “major delays” on train services across southern England.

A fault with a radio system caused several cancellations and delays up to 90 minutes, after the incident was reported shortly before 9am on Thursday.

While operators have reported that the fault with the radio has been resolved, many services are still likely to experience delays as networks recover from delays this morning.

National Rail Enquiries warned there is “major disruption to some services across the south of England”, and the issue relates to how train drivers and signallers communicate.

Train services across southern England are being disrupted by a fault with a radio system.

National Rail Enquiries said the issue relates to how train drivers and signallers communicate.

Train journeys are often disrupted, as we can see from today’s travel chaos with South Western Railway. Passengers who are caught up with long delays and cancellations are entitled to a partial refund – or the full cost of the ticket for a really long delay.

But the rules are complex and change from one train operator to another. And Eurostar, which runs trains from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, has a quite different policy on delays.

These are the key questions and answers:

Gatwick Express services are now likely to run to/from Brighton, rather than terminating at Hayward Heath, the operator said.

Thameslink has said the disruption has now ended.

The operator said in a post online: “If you’ve been delayed at your destination by 15 minutes or more, you should apply for Delay Repay compensation.”

Great Western Railway has said the communication systems has now been resolved and services are “no longer affected”.

National Rail Enquiries said some services may still be delayed “by up to 90 minutes or cancelled whilst service recover”.

“Major disruption is expected until the end of the day,” an update added.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Due to issues with radio communications, train services in the South West and south have been subject to some delays this morning.

“Staff have worked to resolve the fault, and train services are now returning to normal.

“We apologise to passengers for the disruption caused to their journeys.”

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder writes:

The busiest station in the UK for “normal” trains (excluding the Elizabeth line) is London Waterloo.

It is the hub for state-run South Western Railways.

Data from RealTimeTrains.co.uk shows delays of over an hour beginning at around 9am, with trains from Reading, Portsmouth and Honiton in Devon arriving over an hour behind schedule.

The train due in from Windsor at 9.23am finally arrived at platform 14 at 11.09am, nearly two hours late.

Many trains due to operate were cancelled due to rolling stock, drivers and guards out of position.

Even though the systemwide fault is now fixed, delays and cancellations are likely to continue into the afternoon and possibly affect the evening rush-hour.

The compensation bill for delay repay is likely to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds on South Western Railway alone.

If you have been affected by this morning’s rail disruption, we want to hear from you.

Get in touch by emailing maryam.zakir-hussain@independent.co.uk