Rail passengers endured another miserable commute in London today after the Elizabeth line was suspended for a second day running and eight Underground lines were hit by delays.
Furious commuters on the problem-plagued £19billion network were left venting their anger at Mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) after another day of chaos with no trains running between Abbey Wood and Paddington due to a fault.
To compound matters, the Tube faced chaos as the Circle line was suspended and the District line part-suspended due to a fire alert at High Street Kensington.
The Hammersmith and City line had severe delays due to power supply problems, while the Jubilee and Piccadilly were both disrupted by a shortage of trains.
The Bakerloo and Northern lines were delayed by to a fire alert, while the Central line was delayed due to train cancellations. In addition, King’s Cross St Pancras was temporarily shut and evacuated to prevent overcrowding, before being re-opened.
The issue on the Elizabeth line related to overnight systems maintenance and began early yesterday – with National Rail initially saying disruption would end by 10.30am, then this was pushed back to 11am, 12.30pm, 4pm and then ‘until the end of the day’.
This morning, National Rail at first said there would again be no trains ‘until the end of the day’, but at 11am it said trains would begin running again, with disruption until 1pm. This was then pushed back to 3pm. But at 2pm today, it said the disruption had now ended.
This was the latest outage on a line which has suffered numerous reliability issues since Mr Khan launched it to great fanfare in May 2022, three-and-a-half years late.
Canary Wharf Elizabeth line station is closed this morning due to the signalling problems
A departures board at Stratford station shows the many Elizabeth line cancellations today
A barrier blocking access to an Elizabeth line platform at Ealing Broadway this morning
One angry commuter tweeted: ‘@TfL @MayorofLondon Elizabeth Line down for yet another day – what’s the plan? A total embarrassment and crippling our city.’
A second wrote: ‘Two days and not fixed, Elizabeth line is taking the absolute p**s! @TfL can you explain why this still isn’t fixed and is @MayorofLondon finally willing to admit that a billion pound train line shouldn’t have been built on the same rubbish infrastructure. What are we paying for?’
A third tweeted: ‘Elizabeth line closures again. It was so nice whilst it lasted, but it seems as though the Elizabeth line is suffering the same fate as every other line in the network.’
Another said: ‘Living in South London is a joke. Small rain has fallen, small wind has blown, now the Elizabeth line is suspended and National Rail trains are either running late, cancelled, or so packed you might not even be able to get on. Fantastic.’
And a fifth posted: ‘@TfL are you going to bother opening the Elizabeth line later today or are just giving your staff another paid day off? I need to know as got to take wheelchair user to vital hospital appointment in central London later so need to plan ahead.’
The issue on the Elizabeth line’s central area also led to severe delays on the western section between Paddington, Heathrow and Reading, and the eastern section from Liverpool Street to Shenfield.
The signalling issue was on the CBTC section which is used in the central section of the line – while the older TPWS and ETCS systems are used on the National Rail sections.
The CBTC system is supplied by Siemens Mobility, and one source told the transport website ianVisits that it was as ‘the worst signalling failure they’ve ever seen’.
The major software crash happened during routine maintenance on the passenger information screens which use data from signalling computers, reported ITV.
Elizabeth line director Howard Smith told MailOnline this morning: ‘We apologise to customers for the disruption on the Elizabeth line.
‘We are continuing to work with Siemens, our signalling supplier, to resolve issues that resulted from overnight maintenance of the system.
‘We advise customers to plan ahead, allow extra time for their journeys, and check before they travel using our website or the TfL Go app.’
Also in relation to the Elizabeth line issues, a spokeswoman for Mr Khan told MailOnline: ‘This performance is below the high standards people expect from the Elizabeth line, and the Mayor has spoken to TfL who are in the process of resolving the signalling issues, working with Siemens.’
National Rail said customers for Reading or Heathrow should board an Elizabeth line service from Paddington high level platforms 1 to 14.
Customers for Shenfield should board an Elizabeth line service from Liverpool Street high level platforms 16 and 17.
Elizabeth line passengers were also allowed to use their tickets on services run by other operators including c2c, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Southeastern and Thameslink.
At King’s Cross St Pancras, TfL told MailOnline that a fire alert earlier meant they had to suspend services through Kings Cross St Pancras, before the London Fire Brigade attended and gave the all-clear.
There was also overcrowding at the station which meant station staff had to implement some short closures to keep everyone safe, before reopening the ticket gates later on.
Passengers try to board a packed Central line train at Stratford yesterday after Elizabeth line services were suspended between Abbey Wood and Paddington due to a signal fault
The shutters to Liverpool Street Underground station were closed yesterday amid the chaos
Commuters instead had to take the Docklands Light Railway yesterday from Woolwich Arsenal
TfL said it had awarded the contract to the group which also includes Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo and UK rail and bus firm Go Ahead. The new consortium will take over from the existing operator in May 2025.
The operator will also help prepare for and implement extra services to Old Oak Common when the new £1.7billion station in Acton opens around the year 2030 to connect with High Speed 2 (HS2) services to and from Birmingham.
While the Elizabeth line has faced regular complaints from passengers about delays, it has also proven to be hugely popular and now carries around 700,000 people per day. By this May, it had seen more than 350million journeys in its first two years.
It comes as heavy rain brought by Storm Conall also caused rail chaos this morning – with operators including Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, Southeastern and South Western Railway reporting disruption due to flooding or fallen trees.
Thameslink issued a ‘do not travel warning’ for passengers trying to get through London due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Blackfriars and St Pancras.
The Met Office said up to 2in (50mm) of rain could fall across the Isle of Wight, Sussex and Kent with a yellow warning in place for the South East until midday.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan poses for a selfie on the first Elizabeth line train on May 24, 2022
South Western Railway said the downpours had flooded the railway at Bagshot in Surrey and between Guildford and Ash, while a tree had fallen on the line at Romsey in Hampshire.
Southeastern said heavy rain flooding the railway near Tonbridge in Kent meant all lines were closed.
And flooding caused by Bert at Northampton meant all lines continued to blocked – affecting Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway services through the area.
Great Western Railway said services between Exeter St Davids, Okehampton and Barnstaple in Devon were suspended due to flooding in the Crediton area.
In addition, there was still Bert-related disruption on GWR services between Paddington and South Wales via Bristol Parkway, and through Newbury.
