National Rail announces that disruption caused by faulty comms system has cleared
National Rail has announced that the delays affecting the British train network have cleared, and apologised “if you experienced delays to your journey this morning”
In a statement, it said:
This morning, a nationwide fault with the GSMR system was affecting communication between train drivers and signallers. This meant trains were unable to register onto their route for the start of service and deregister to end their service.
The fault has now been resolved and services are returning to normal. There may be some residual disruption whilst timetables are restored. Please monitor live departure boards and check before you travel.
The fault was being investigated at the Network Rail telecoms hub in Doncaster, while the BBC reported that a faulty hardware card in Stoke installed overnight may have been the source of the problem.
Drivers were using manual codes to log in to the system, which was delaying departures, but train operators were keen to stress there were no safety implications.
Disruption primarily affected high-frequency services in the south-east, especially Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – along with South Western, Southeastern and parts of the Elizabeth line running west of the capital. Some ScotRail services were also affected. Trains in Northern Ireland did not experience the same problems, although there were reports of delays in Wales.
Southeastern have published a map showing where they expect delays to continue to occur, although they say disruption should be over by 11.30am.
⚠️UPDATE: We are continuing to work to get services to normal and expect most trains to be back to normal by 11:30.
— Southeastern (@Se_Railway) December 6, 2024
📲For more information on this incident click here: https://t.co/Y2EZ2B1Gow
👇The map below shows how services are expected to be by 11:30 #SeDisruption pic.twitter.com/OUPIQElfcc
