East Coast delays: Lightning sparks major travel chaos amid warnings NOT to travel after hundreds of passengers stranded for hours

The stormy weather caused severe delays as thousands of holidaymakers embarked on summer trips.
Chaos: crowds squash onto packed trains in Newcastle
@BTPTyneWear
Chloe Chaplain27 July 2018

Hundreds of train passengers planning to travel on the East Coast Main Line have been urged not to travel after lines were blocked by lightning strikes.

Desperate travellers were stuck on trains between London and Scotland for hours on Friday after the stormy weather sparked chaos on the tracks.

Customers were warned against attempting their journeys on London North Eastern Railway (LNER) after lighting damaged the signalling system between Leeds and York.

Some customers who departed London at 8am did not get to their final destinations in the north until after 3.30pm.

Delays: The departure board in Leeds
@BTPWestYorks

Families were left stranded in trains for hours and some customers were told at some point that they may have to travel all the way back to London due to the line blockage.

Later in the evening passengers boarded trains from Kings Cross to Edinburgh only to discover, via Twitter, that it would not be departing.

Chaos: Crowds are held back from the platforms in Leeds amid major disruption on the lines
EPA

“Everybody is just sat on the train, and we haven’t been advised it’s cancelled...,” a woman replied.

Customers vented their fury on Twitter, complaining that air con was broken and some services had no refreshment facilities.

“I’m on the 18:00 LOndon kings cross to Edinburgh, currently delayed atleast 60 minutes in the station waiting for a train driver!!! Surely this was known before we boarded this train? Also air con is non existent! First time travelling LNER and appalled,” one passenger wrote.

Scores of others, some travelling with young children, shared pictures of themselves forced to sit on the floor by the train door or pack into the aisles.

The rail company had tweeted earlier in the day: “Due to the extreme weather conditions and signalling failure throughout the route our advice to passengers is not to travel today. Tickets for today will be valid for tomorrow and Sunday.

“Sorry to those who have been caught in today's disruption caused by the damaged signalling system.”

Train firm Northern advised passengers not to travel in the Yorkshire area due to the same issue.

And thousands more passengers travelling to France on cross-Channel rail operator Eurotunnel were left in limbo after their tickets were cancelled amid delays caused by air conditioning units failing.

After queues of up to six-and-a-half hours on Thursday, passengers were prevented from travelling on Friday if they were due to return on the same day or Saturday.

Gare du Nord: Travellers endured hours of delays on the Eurostar
@MattRGR

A spokeswoman for the operator said the disruption was due to the "high volume of passengers".

A Eurostar train manager wrote on Twitter that a train to the Belgian capital was delayed because of "congestion at border control" at London St Pancras International.

Jeremy Selwyn

Other rail journeys were disrupted by the hot weather as train speeds were cut to reduce the likelihood of tracks buckling.

Chiltern Railways trains between Oxford and London Marylebone were affected, following disruption to Greater Anglia services earlier this week.

Cutting the speed of trains reduces the forces they exert on the track, making rails less likely to buckle.

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