South-east England ‘do not travel’ rail alert lifted however disruption continues | Rail trade

The UK’s largest railway franchise has lifted a “do not travel alert” it had issued after a prepare derailment and signalling points affected companies throughout south-east England, however service disruption continues.

The prepare operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express – all a part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise in south-east England – had urged passengers to not journey at 8am on Wednesday morning “if at all possible” due to “multiple incidents”.

Issues included a prepare derailment inside a depot in Selhurst, south-east London and a signalling fault between London Blackfriars and Norwood Junction.

The don’t journey alert was withdrawn by 10am, however passengers had been being warned companies might nonetheless be cancelled, revised or delayed by as much as an hour.

The prepare operators had instructed passengers: “A number of incidents across the Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink networks mean that all lines are disrupted. Trains across these networks may be cancelled, severely delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.”

Network Rail launched a picture of the derailed Southern prepare, which confirmed it remained upright, and mentioned there have been no confirmed accidents. The incident prevented different trains from leaving the depot.

National Rail mentioned the signalling fault meant fewer rail strains had been obtainable between Norwood Junction and London Blackfriars, and trains operating on the obtainable strains should journey at slower speeds than regular.

Services had been suspended on routes between London Bridge and East Grinstead; Orpington and Luton; Brighton and Cambridge; and Bedford and Three Bridges. Several different Thameslink routes had been additionally disrupted.

A GTR spokesperson mentioned: “We’re very sorry for the disruption that customers have experienced this morning. A fault with the signalling system between Norwood Junction and London Bridge, along with a train derailment at Selhurst depot, are causing the disruption.

“We’re working with Network Rail to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We advise customers to check our website and social media accounts for the latest travel information.”

GTR, which additionally contains the operator Great Northern, is the UK’s largest railway franchise when it comes to passengers carried. About 18% of prepare journeys within the UK are made on GTR companies, in response to the corporate.

Great Britain’s rail operators are within the means of being nationalised by the federal government, with West Midlands Trains the newest, final weekend. GTR is anticipated to be the subsequent operator to be nationalised, in May.

Elsewhere on Britain’s rail community on Wednesday, a fault with the signalling system between Crewe and Sandbach means trains should run at a lowered velocity on all strains. This is disrupting companies between Crewe and Wilmslow, affecting the operators Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Northern and Transport for Wales.

A signalling downside was additionally affecting South Western Railway companies between Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour.