BBC London
BBCPassengers are likely to face continued disruption at London Waterloo station as services return following a major signalling failure.
South Western Railway (SWR) said equipment that routes trains in and out of the station failed on Monday morning, resulting in cancellations, delays and revisions across its whole network.
The issue which left 14 platforms out of use and left many passengers stranded was first reported on Network Rail at about 05:30 BST.
SWR has confirmed it has begun “gradually re-introducing train services” after the mechanism was fixed. It expects to provide a “reasonable service for the afternoon and evening routes on our suburban routes” and into Reading and Windsor.
Monday-dated rail tickets can be used on Tuesday instead, or tickets will be accepted on some local bus routes, SWR said.
SWR and Network Rail have apologised for the disruption and said in a joint statement: “Later this afternoon we expect to restore a reliable train service on our routes to Reading and Windsor & Eton Riverside, as well as our suburban routes.
“Significant disruption is expected on our long-distance routes to Exeter St Davids, Portsmouth and Weymouth until the end of the day.”
Passengers have been told they cannot claim money from SWR for taxis but can use their tickets on specified routes with London Buses, Falcon Buses, Stagecoach South and Morebus, as well as certain train journeys on the London Underground, CrossCountry, Southern and Great Western Railway.
Jessica Halstead, who was trying to travel with her two children, told the BBC she was feeling “frustrated” after waiting around for over an hour on the station concourse.
“It’s quite hard trying to entertain children on a station platform… do I need to get them some lunch, when will the train go? It’s pretty disruptive,” Ms Halstead said.
“At what point do you just turn around give up?”
While passengers were seen sitting on the concourse floor as they waited for trains at Waterloo, customers across the SWR network also experienced delays and cancellations.
Rory Smith, who was trying to travel from Southampton to help set the Camp Bestival event in Shropshire, told the BBC his train had been cancelled and that his travel apps were not up to date.
“It would be ideal if things ran a little more seamlessly… not feeling like I have to scramble to find alternative routes.”
Dan Cokely, visiting from the US, said he boarded and then had to get off several trains on his journey from Waterloo to Southampton.
“I am frustrated,” he said.
“This is my third time using British Rail of some sort and third disruption.”
Network Rail’s operations director Tom Desmond told BBC London he was “incredibly sorry” for the signalling breakdown – an issue that first emerged on Saturday.
“This was a technical fault that we were working hard on throughout the weekend, it happened Saturday morning, we recovered it through Saturday afternoon and Sunday and it failed again this morning.”
He said he was “confident” the root cause of the issue had been resolved and a reliable service would resume.
“The team is working incredibly hard to make sure it’s robust and all the trains and all the drivers and all the train crew are back where they need to be to get everyone home this afternoon,” Mr Desmond said.
SWR was the first operator brought into public ownership by the Labour government in May, with a second train company, c2c, nationalised by Labour on Sunday.
Operator c2c runs services between London Fenchurch Street and south Essex.
