Train passengers suffer fresh disruption

Train passengers on major routes are being hit by fresh disruption.

Heathrow Express, which serves the UK’s busiest airport, Heathrow, cancelled half its services on Monday.

The operator said this was because of “more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time”.

Heathrow Express, Great Western Railway and Elizabeth line services are also affected by a points failure in Slough, Berkshire which blocked some lines.

Sets of points are used to transfer trains from one track to another.

Services to and from London Paddington and both Reading and Heathrow are disrupted.

The Great Western main line was already being investigated by the Office of Rail and Road over poor reliability.

Four damaged rails were discovered within eight days last month.

Thousands of passengers were stranded on trains near London Paddington for several hours in west London on Thursday night after overhead electric cables were damaged.

Multiple LNER services between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh were cancelled on Monday.

This was after the East Coast main line was closed between Peterborough and Grantham because overhead cables were damaged by Storm Elin on Saturday night.

LNER, Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo passengers were advised not to travel on Sunday while repairs were being carried out.

In a message to passengers, LNER said: “Following repairs to damaged overhead lines between Peterborough and Grantham at the weekend, customers are urged to check for the latest service updates before making their journey.”

Network Rail said it has completed repairs on three out of the four affected lines.

Work on the fourth line is expected to be finalised overnight on Monday into Tuesday.

Several operators blamed a shortage of train crew for cancelling trains on Monday, including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway.