Turmoil on the trains as major lines slow to snail’s pace
Rail commuters faced travel chaos today as hundreds of services were cancelled or delayed.
The three big operators — Southeastern, Southern and South West Trains — said they could not run a "normal" service because of the weather. The firms would normally carry more than 350,000 commuters into London during the morning peak.
Services were forced to a crawl on most routes into London, with frozen tracks and points adding to the delays. Trains broke down because of snow blowing into air intakes and short-circuiting motors — a repeat of the Eurostar problems. A stricken train blocked lines at London Bridge, one of the capital's busiest stations.
Southeastern, the busiest commuter company serving routes into Charing Cross, Cannon Street, London Bridge and Victoria, changed its entire timetable to a much-reduced "Saturday" service.
There were no direct services into Cannon Street during the morning peak, with passengers having to change at London Bridge.
Southern, which includes the Victoria-to-Brighton line, substituted a revised timetable on many routes, while National Express East Anglia services to and from Liverpool Street were ordered to slow to 60mph on the treacherous tracks — though many would have been lucky to reach that speed.
London Bridge virtually shut down at one stage last night and there were reports of scuffles between passengers trying to board the few trains that did turn up. Commuters said they were stranded at the station for several hours after trains were cancelled and delayed.
This morning disruptions continued, but trains were said to be "half empty" as commuters were put off making the journey into work.
There were delays of up to an hour for passengers travelling into Marylebone station in London from the South Midlands and from areas to the north-west of London.
A Network Rail spokesman said it had brought in extra engineering staff to try to clear tracks. "Ghost trains" — empty of passengers — have been used during the night to try to keep the tracks clear, while other adapted trains have been spreading de-icing fluid.
Transport for London said Tube services, the DLR and London Overground were running as normal.
Bob Crow, the RMT union leader, today launched a stinging attack on Network Rail for failing to keep the tracks clear. He said: "They have not got enough staff out to keep the tracks free of ice and snow — and yet this the company is planning to axe hundreds of maintenance workers."
"The winter chaos on the railways has spread from Eurostar to the rest of the South East and other parts of the country and makes a mockery of Network Rail's plans to axe 1500 engineering jobs.
"The breakdown of services in the South East at the first sign of bad weather shows that we need more track staff not less. We are demanding that the cuts plans be scrapped and that more staff are put in place to keep our trains running."
