London Victoria train delays: Rush-hour travel disruption after fire near tracks

Three separate blazes responsible for delays and cancellations expected until mid-afternoon

All train lines were blocked between Clapham Junction and London Victoria as fire broke out on the tracks on Wednesday morning.

Two of the capital’s busiest stations are expected to be hit by delays and cancellations until mid-afternoon.

Southern Rail, which runs major commuter routes from areas such as Brighton and Portsmouth, said services running to or from Clapham Junction or Victoria could be cancelled or delayed until 2:30pm.

The Gatwick Express service is also disrupted.

“Particularly on busy routes, where trains need to run to a very tight schedule, such incidents can cause knock-on delays that continue for hours afterwards,” a statement on Southern’s website said.

Emergency services arrived at 6am as all four lines were blocked and power switched off, after a driver reported a track-side fire in the early hours of the morning.

A spokesperson for Network Rail confirmed there were three fires – on Battersea Bridge, Victoria Railway Bridge and at Poupart’s Junction – all of which had been put out successfully by 7:50am, at which time lines were reopened.

An image shared by the rail operator on Twitter showed flames and smoke rising from underneath railway tracks.

Southern advised those travelling to the affected stations to avoid travel by rail where possible and said tickets purchased for affected services would be valid on Underground lines between Victoria, Balham, Waterloo, Blackfriars and London Bridge at no extra cost.

Cancellations and heavy residual delays of up to 60 minutes should be expected until 2:30pm, Southern wrote on its website.

Thameslink said some services had been diverted through London Bridge.

Commuters left unaware of the reason behind delays vented their frustration on social media, with some reportedly left stuck on trains close to nearby stations.

Southern apologised on Twitter to a complaint alleging staff had reacted angrily to a passenger fainting and blocking the doors of a train held at Balham.

Meanwhile, at Gatwick and Heathrow, British Airways passengers complained of being hit with delays after the company suffered computer failures, forcing staff to manually check in customers at several airports.