Series of shutdowns causes chaos and frustration on London’s public transport

Tens of thousands of commuters faced a chaotic journey to work after a series of major shutdowns on London’s public transport system.
The biggest impact was felt by passengers who normally use the showpiece Elizabeth Line where signal failure brought trains to a standstill.
But the misery for many commuters was compounded by severe disruption to Tube lines which led to overcrowding at Paddington.
A combination of power failure, a fire alarm and a small fire saw the Hammersmith & City, Bakerloo and Circle lines suspended at various times during the morning rush hour.
Engineers spent more than 24 hours trying to fix the computerised signals which control trains on the £19bn Elizabeth Line.
No trains were running in the main tunnels between Paddington and Abbey Wood, south London.
Services on the western surface sections from Paddington to Heathrow Airport and Reading were severely disrupted.
The software crash was triggered when engineers carried out routine maintenance on the passenger information screens.
The system – which relies on data from the signalling computers – advises passengers when trains are due.
Transport for London said the problem was fixed by 10.30am but was unable to say when services would be back to normal.
At 11.30am more than a dozen Elizabeth Line trains were still idle in a west London depot and TfL’s online update referred to ‘severe delays’.
The passenger information signs on platforms at Paddington were still switched off when services restarted.
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