London Overground delays: Brake part found on tracks near Shoreditch station leaves commuters facing travel chaos

Ella Wills11 January 2018

A brake part from a London Overground train found on the tracks in east London left thousands of commuters facing travel chaos.

Debris from a train’s brake system found near Shoreditch early on Thursday forced engineers to halt services over “safety concerns,” TfL told the Standard.

Severe delays were also reported on two major Tube lines causing further misery for commuters who were trying to use alternative routes.

London Overground services to Croydon, Crystal Palace, New Cross Gate and Highbury and Islington were all suspended as a result.

Delays: Commuters cram onto a Central line service on Thursday morning
@williamnichols

TfL said "urgent checks" on all trains led to a "shortage of trains" that caused severe delays across the network at Richmond, Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction.

The transport body said it was working flat out to resume a full service. By 11am, there was no estimated time for an end to the delays.

It came amid a morning of travel chaos as the District and Central Lines were hit by severe delays during rush hour after earlier signal failures at Earls Court and Liverpool Street.

Safety checks were completed at 10am with Overground services set to be reinstated, but passengers were advised to continue to seek alternative routes, the line tweeted.

Tickets were accepted on London Underground, C2C, Southeastern, South Western Railway, Thameslink, Greater Anglia, Southern and local bus services.

January Rail Strike - In pictures

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Londoners were dismayed after they were hit with fresh rail misery on a day off from strike action by RMT workers across major rail routes.

Members of the union staged 24-hour walk-outs on Monday and Wednesday, with plans for further strikes on Friday.

One woman said she was "stuck on an hour long bus journey" after her usual Overground service was cancelled.

She wrote: "Since I’ve been on the 37 it has had two bus driver changes and stopped for a short time to regulate the service. Can I go home?"

Another woman, named Chloe, said: "Thanks @TfL for suddenly closing the Overground in Clapham Junction forcing me to miss my course in West London. Nice one."

But in an unexpected twist after a history of delays, Southern Rail emerged as the "unlikely heroes" of the day with many commuters taking alternative routes to work using the rail service.

And not all commuters were frustrated to hear about the delays as some felt it was better to put safety first.

Michael tweeted: "#Overground all cancelled because a piece of brake caliper was found at Shoreditch - I’d rather be delayed then get on a train that possibly may struggle to stop..."

Jonathan Fox, Director of Rail and Sponsored Services at TfL said: “We apologise for the disruption customers on London Overground are facing this morning.

"During track inspections last night debris on the track was discovered near Shoreditch.

"Safety is our top priority and so we have carried out urgent checks on all trains before allowing them to enter service this morning. We are working flat out to resume the full service as quickly as we can.”‎

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