Travel chaos continues for road and rail commuters after extreme rainfall

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

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Rail passengers on two of the UK’s busiest routes face cancellations, diversions and delays during the Tuesday rush hour, due to signalling problems and flooding. Meanwhile a key road in Bedfordshire remains closed due to heavy flooding, with no indication of when the A421 might reopen.

The main line from Bournemouth, Southampton and Winchester to London Waterloo will have no trains running between Basingstoke and Winchester “until approximately 10am” according to National Rail.

South Western Railway, which runs most of the trains on the affected stretch of line, warned disruption would last even longer, saying: “Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12 noon.”

Some trains may be re-routed away from the affected stretch of track, though this will sharply increase journey times.

CrossCountry trains from Bournemouth and Southampton to Birmingham and Manchester are also affected.

Passengers who decide to switch to the West Coast main line – which connects London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, North Wales and southern Scotland – will encounter serious problems too.

Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway services through Northamptonshire are seriously disrupted.

National Rail says: “Heavy flooding between Rugby and Milton Keynes Central is disrupting journeys between these stations. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.”

Buses are replacing trains between Northampton and Milton Keynes Central.

The line running roughly parallel, between Banbury and Bicester North, is expected to be disrupted until noon.

National Rail said: “Heavy flooding between Banbury and Bicester North means the lines towards London are blocked. As a result, trains running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes, or diverted.

“Trains running towards London will not call at Bicester North, passengers should travel to/from Bicester Village.

“Disruption is expected to continue until 12 noon.”

In southeast England, a points failure on the line from Dartford to London Bridge is causing problems with Thameslink services connecting north Kent with central London and Luton.

National Rail said: “Network Rail have sent their specialist Signalling and Telecoms teams to site as a priority, and they will set up a safe method of working on the track.

“As soon as it’s safe to go on the line, they will diagnose the fault and find any quick solutions to resolve it.”

On the Great Western line linking South Wales and Bristol with London Paddington, trains are running again after partial closures on Monday – though with delays between Swindon and Didcot.

On the roads, the key problem remains in Bedfordshire: the closure of the A421 between the A6 at Bedford and junction 13 of the M1 due to flooding.

National Highways says: “Following spells of torrential rain, flooding occurred at Marston Moretaine on the evening of Sunday 22 September with water levels of up eight feet recorded.

“This has severely impacted efforts to clear floodwater from the carriageway.

“National Highways service providers continue to work at scene and at present a number of articulated tankers and pumping equipment are in use as efforts to clear the road continue.

“At this stage we cannot provide a timeline for the road to reopen.

“Three vehicles that have been abandoned in the flooded section will also need to be recovered before the carriageway can be fully re-opened.”

In addition, the A5 in Buckinghamshire is closed northbound at Milton Keynes due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall.