London was thrown into commuter chaos this morning (Tues) after a train derailed at Waterloo station – which is currently undergoing massive engineering works.
Passengers have be told to completely avoid London after the train partially derailed because of a ‘operational incident’, South West Trains said.
London Ambulance Service paramedics checked over three people but said nobody was injured.
It came during the closure of 14 platforms at the station while an £800million upgrade takes place.
South West Trains said in a statement: “A points problem and an operational incident between Vauxhall and London Waterloo is causing disruption to journeys between these stations.
“Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption will continue until the end of service.
“There is a fault with a set of points on one of the lines approaching London Waterloo.
“This means that South West Trains are unable to use one of the 5 lines into and out of the station.
“This is expected to cause some delays to services, while trains use the available lines.
“In addition, South West Trains are investigating a problem near Waterloo station, which is expected to cause some further delay.”
It added: “South West Trains are advising not to travel into London at this time.”
The ongoing redevelopment, which began on August 5 and is scheduled to end on August 28, has already resulted in 75 per cent fewer trains.
Passengers have been warned to avoid Waterloo if possible to avoid travel chaos.
Hundreds of trains in and out of Waterloo are cancelled or delayed after the service derailed this morning – and commuters have been warned not to travel to London.
Some services are delayed by nearly two hours while scores more have been cancelled altogether after a train derailed at about 6am.
Passengers have voiced their anger as South West Trains warned commuters to totally avoid London.
Twitter user Kavita said: “Been waiting half an hour at Waterloo for a train to work. Most to my station cancelled. Only single track in/out on this side, apparently.”
Another user, Slade, added: “Derailed train at Waterloo means my train is 2 hours delayed for 25 min journey.”
National Rail’s website lists most trains into and out of Waterloo as either cancelled or delayed, with some late by more than an hour and a half.
South West has warned of major disruption on nine lines covering much of west London.
The company said: “South West Trains are advising not to travel into London at this time.”
Meanwhile Uber has surged its prices by nearly 400 per cent as people are forced to take cabs, according to some on Twitter.
Craig Le Grice said: “Waterloo part-closed for derailment, Uber sets surge pricing to 3.8x. £20 trip = £64.”
A spokesman for London Ambulance service said nobody was injured in the derailment.
He added: “We checked over three patients following the train derailment at Waterloo this morning. Thankfully they did not need to go to hospital.”
London Fire Brigade said it was called shortly after 6am after a passenger train collided with a freight train, thought to be a Network Rail engineering wagon.
Photographs show the eight-car passenger train partially derailed up against the engineering wagon.
Transport for London also advised commuters to avoid Waterloo at all costs.
A spokesman said: “There’s very limited service in and out of the station due to an operational incident.”
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