- Trains between the Midlands and Manchester were impacted by signal failure
- Are YOU stuck at Euston? Email [email protected]
Commuters have warned of a ‘complete chaos’ and ‘a dangerous crush’ at Euston Station, while passengers are trapped on trains with ‘broken air conditioning’ during the peak of rush hour following a signal failure.
The situation has been compounded by a faulty announcement system, meaning rail bosses have not been able to fully communicate to commuters about what has happened.
London Euston has posted on X that ‘Trains to/from Euston are disrupted this evening due to a fault with our signalling system in Watford’ and advised passengers to check online before travelling.
The post added: ‘We’re really sorry to passengers affected.’
The signal failure at Watford Junction is affecting trains using the line between the Midlands and Manchester.
Avanti West Coast is disrupted between London Euston and Wolverhampton, Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly and Edinburgh.
London Northwestern Railway is disrupted between London Euston and Tring, Milton Keynes Central, Birmingham New Street and Crewe.
Lines have now reopened following the points failure at Watford Junction.
National Rail has warned that trains through Euston may be cancelled, delayed by up to 40 minutes or revised.
The company added on its website that disruption is affected until the end of the day.
Footage taken from inside the station shows hundreds of people standing and looking up at the announcement boards.
One unhappy passenger described the station as ‘a furnace’ and asked station bosses on X: ‘Can you turn the air con up? Or turn it on.’
One commuter, named Josh, asked Euston Station on X to explain what had happened to the announcements.
The response stated: ‘Hi Josh, we are having issues with the PA system currently, the volume is lower than normal. The station team is supporting with handheld speakers in the meantime.
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‘Sorry for this, we are working hard on announcements and getting trains moving as soon as possible.’
Another commuter posted on X that Euston Station is ‘ridiculously hot and getting overcrowded now and still barely any trains getting out.’
A third has described ‘absolute chaos at Euston with no idea which trains are running, delayed or cancelled. No information at all and no guarantee they can get me home tonight.’
One social media user decided to diffuse the situation with a little humour, writing: ‘Euston we have a problem.’
Meanwhile, commuters already travelling found themselves enduring rising temperatures on stationary trains.
One concerned commuter told Avanti West Coast that they had been on a train for an hour stuck at Coventry.
They tweeted: ‘Can I suggest letting people know they can leave the train to the platform to cool down. Standing room only does not help.’
Speaking to MailOnline, affected passenger Theo, 25 from South West London, said he was ‘trapped’ for over two hours on a train travelling between Crewe and Euston Station at Watford Junction, between 4pm till after 6pm.
He said: ‘There was a failed train in Watford junction which blocked a line, and then the points failed on top of that so everything ran very slow.
‘There were lots of network rail guys in high vis. I think they sorted it all, but obviously there was a long queue [of trains] behind us.’
He added that a guard who was on his last day of a 20-year service with London Northwestern Railway was ‘stellar at keeping us informed and in the loop of all the issues.’
When the train finally got moving again, he described Euston Station as ‘very hot, no breeze at all, and about as busy as I’ve seen it.’
In an update on Wednesday evening, a Network Rail spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Trains are now on the move again to and from Euston station following an earlier signal failure in the Watford Junction area.
‘We’re sorry for the disruption caused while our engineers dealt with the issue’.
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