Welsh rail passengers travelling to and from London are being warned for a second day of disruption at Paddington train station. No trains have been able to run in or out of the station since 6.30am on Monday (September 19) because of damage to overhead electric wires.
Thousands of people trying to get to and from the Queen's state funeral were delayed on Monday. Passengers from Wales are being urged to travel via Waterloo.
On Monday evening, people arriving at the London station were being told to get a tube train to Waterloo, and then take an overland train to Reading, which has several stops along the way. There are then trains running between the town and south Wales.
One passenger, who asked not to be named, arrived at the station on Monday having spent the weekend queuing to see the Queen lying in state, and then the funeral, said: "I was looking forward to just getting home. I can't understand how you can organise such an unbelievable funeral, but we can't get the trains right."
Craig Spencer and his wife, from Pontypridd, had walked to Paddington after queuing for 11 hours to pay their respects to the Queen at the lying-in-state.
“It was a good experience, but the rest of it has been a bit dire since," he told the Independent. “We were going to go to the funeral procession, but everywhere was choc-a-bloc – totally full so you can’t get anywhere.
“We walked up from Hyde Park to the station only to find out that we can’t even get onto our train. Not very good at all.”
Trains to south Wales, Bristol, Cardiff, Oxford and Plymouth have all been affected, and airline passengers heading for Heathrow discovered they were unable to reach the airport except by taxi or a slow Tube journey.
National Rail's advice is:
- Passengers travelling between London and Reading should travel to/from London Waterloo, using South Western Railway services to/from Reading.
- Passengers in London travelling to Oxford and Banbury can travel from London Marylebone.
- Passengers in Windsor traveling to London should travel via Windsor & Eton Riverside to London Waterloo.
- Passengers in Windsor travelling west should travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Slough and change at Slough for mainline services to Reading and onwards.
Customers who were delayed travelling on Monday due to the disruption, can use their tickets for travel instead today, Tuesday 20 September.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We are very sorry for the disruption which we expect to continue throughout the day. We are working hard to get services running as soon as possible and passengers are strongly advised to check before they travel. We will continue to update passengers as the situation develops.”
Monday saw one of the UK’s biggest transport operations as mourners descended on London and Windsor. Around 250 extra train services were planned.
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