Rail disruption to the west of London has prevented thousands of mourners from seeing the Queen’s funeral in the capital, with the closure of the line between Paddington and Reading expected to continue throughout Monday.
Lines were blocked from about 6.30am because of damage to overhead electric wires, Network Rail said. Services operated by GWR, Heathrow Express and Mtrel, which runs the Elizabeth line, were affected.
Shortly after noon, Network Rail said that owing to “significant damage”, no train services were running between London Paddington and Reading. “We expect this disruption to continue for the remainder of the day,” the rail operator said.
The line closure and delays led some to watch the funeral on their phones. Bev Palfreman, 61, from Okehampton, Devon, said she was “absolutely gutted” about missing the start of the funeral. “The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do.”
Gaby Thomas, 29, who had travelled from Castle Cary, Somerset, with her father, said: “My dad is a former naval officer and he wanted to see the procession and the military involved. It’s just about being there. We were meant to arrive in Paddington at about 8.30am.” She added: “It’s a typical British thing to happen.”
Passengers intending to travel in and out of London from and to the west, including Windsor, were advised to use South Western Railway services from Reading to Waterloo. Those in Windsor hoping to travel west were told they should travel from Windsor Central to Slough and change there for mainline services.
Those travelling to and from Heathrow airport were advised to use the Piccadilly line on the underground. The airport was already running a reduced service and had cancelled or retimed flights to avoid noise disruption at key points throughout the day.
Some world leaders, such as Joe Biden, the US president, have typically used Stansted airport, north-west of London, for dedicated flights into the UK, and were unlikely to be affected. But others who may have been hoping to leave the UK on commercial flights late on Monday could be affected.
Passengers on a GWR train due to run to Paddington were told by a member of staff using the public address system: “My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country.”
Earlier, a train that departed Paddington at 6.25am was stuck outside the station for more than two and a half hours. GWR told customers onboard that the train was “due to be evacuated”.
Mourners travelling to funeral events in Windsor from Paddington were affected, with one person writing on Twitter: “I’m stuck on the train for two hours. Got up at 4am to get to Windsor early for the viewing. Absolutely horrible service.”
A Network Rail spokesperson 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.”
Rail lines between Reading and Newbury were also closed due to a person being hit by a train. This caused GWR trains to be diverted, delaying more journeys to the capital.
About 250 extra train services were planned for Monday. They included a 3am departure to Paddington from Penzance, Cornwall, although it left with no passengers, according to the news website CornwallLive. In the end, the service ran only as far as Reading.
Heathrow airport had previously urged airline passengers to use rail or tube services on Monday because of road closures in the Windsor area.
