Travel chaos erupted in London Euston station which ground to a halt after a signal failure stopped all trains travelling to Manchester and Scotland.
Services have been suspended, cancelled or are severely delayed leaving passengers stranded on crowded platforms.
Services running from the major station, including those to Manchester, have been halted due to a ‘fault with the signalling system between Watford Junction and London Euston / Clapham Junction’.
A huge disruption notice sign in the station warned travellers that services are expected to be impacted ‘until further notice’ with delays expected into the evening.
The disruption, which is affecting Avanti West Coast and LNR between Glasgow Central, Edinburgh, Birmingham New Street, Milton Keynes Central and Preston, is likely to upset football fans and St Patrick’s Day revellers.
Travel chaos erupted in London Euston station which ground to a halt after a signal failure stopped all trains travelling to Manchester and Scotland
Crowds swarmed the station and gathered on crowded platforms as display boards listed the delayed trains
Some passengers had missed the FA Cup quarter final due to delays which started in the afternoon and are expected to continue into the evening
Travllers took to X to vent their frustrations
Ticket-holders reported stationary trains, packed platforms and confusing information boards as they battled to get home.
Some said that staff did not seem to know what was going on and that there were no announcements over the Tannoy system leaving passengers worried and confused.
Pictures from inside the station show hundreds of passengers waiting after a haul of services were delayed or cancelled this afternoon.
The latest update from National Rail reads: ‘A fault with the signalling system between Watford Junction and London Euston / Clapham Junction means all lines are blocked. As a result, services between these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Major disruption is expected until 19:00.’
Customers took to X, formerly Twitter, to share their frustration.
One woman described the station as ‘hell on earth’ and another called the situation ‘absolute chaos’.
One mother posted that her 17-year-old daughter was jostled in a crowd so tightly packed that ‘people are in danger of being crushed’.
Another distressed traveller missed Manchester United beating Liverpool in the quarter finals of the FA Cup due to the disruption.
He posted: ‘ Thanks Avanti West Coat for me missing one of Manchester United’s games of the season with the utter chaos at Euston Station, absolutely no information as to when trains might run.’
Information boards inside the station showed the extent of the travel chaos with trains delayed or cancelled
More than 50,000 people descended on London to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and many of them are now stranded at Euston as they try to make their way home
While some enjoyed the parade, others were stuck on trains outside London due to the technical issues which turned Euston station upside down
One St Patrick’s Day reveller posed with The Mayor of London as he led the parade through the centre of London which attracted more than 50,000 people decked out in emerald green and draped with the Irish flag.
Others missed out on the luck of the Irish and were held on trains trying to get into the capital.
Emma Inch from Brighton described being stuck on a train from Liverpool to Brighton which included sitting at Nuneaton due to signal problems.
She said that passengers were advised to change trains at Milton Keynes because her train was no longer going to Euston station but staff quickly backtracked, saying that that central station has become ‘dangerously overcrwoded’
The frustrated passenger added that there was only one working toilet on her train and described her journey as ‘like the seventh circle of hell’.
Thousands of travellers flooded London this weekend to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
Pubs throughout the city were full of people enjoying pints of Guinness as a parade organised by the London Irish Centre climaxed with a festival of live performances in Trafalgar Square.
But not everyone was having such a good time as passengers were stranded at the station with no information on when their next trains could be expected.
Groups of travellers hunkered down to wait for news in Euston station as railway providers took to X to deliver tailored updates.
