Train services across the south east of England were severely disrupted on Thursday after a radio system failure between drivers and signallers triggered widespread cancellations and delays of up to 90 minutes.
A number of operators were affected, including CrossCountry, Gatwick Express, Great Western Railway, London Overground, Southern, South Western Railway and Thameslink, causing significant disruption for commuters and airport travellers.
National Rail said the fault affected communications between train drivers and signalling control centres, warning passengers of “major disruption” as services struggled to recover.
Although the issue has since been resolved, operators cautioned that knock-on delays and cancellations were expected to continue throughout the day as the network gradually returned to normal.
Gatwick Express warned of disruption to services running between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport, saying further cancellations were likely while timetables were rebalanced.
South Western Railway said its engineering and operations teams had worked with signallers to address the fault, but confirmed there was no estimated time for full service recovery. Passengers were advised to consider alternative transport, including bus routes where available.
Thameslink reported delays on routes serving Brighton, Horsham and Three Bridges, while Southern services to and from London Victoria were also affected, along with its West Coastway line between Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton.
Passengers were urged to check station departure boards and listen for live announcements before travelling, with ticket acceptance extended across alternative routes at no extra cost.
Not all operators were impacted. Southeastern confirmed its services were unaffected, stating there had been no disruption to its network.
Despite the technical fault being resolved, operators warned that services would continue to suffer residual delays into the evening as train positioning and crew schedules were restored.
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