UPDATED: Lines have now reopened, disruption expected until 12pm on 7th October 2020
A signalling fault near Leighton Buzzard is causing major disruption to trains between Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead, Watford Junction and London Euston.
Trains are expected to be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes.
It is expected that disruption will last until 12 pm on 7th October.
Avanti West Coast passengers may use Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, LNER or TransPennine Express on any reasonable route. Passengers may also use Great Western Railway for trains between Reading and London Paddington.
London North Western Railway are running a reduced service between Northampton and London Euston, with 2 trains running every hour in each direction.
Passengers may use Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railway or London Overground trains via any reasonable route to help complete their journey.
A limited rail replacement bus service will run at Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Northampton and Rugby.
Southern trains are unable to run between Watford Junction and Milton Keynes Central, meaning there will be a limited hourly service running between Watford Junction and Clapham Junction only.
For passengers between Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes Central, the advice is for you to change at Watford Junction for London Northwestern Railway trains that also stop between Watford Junction and Milton Keynes Central, these will be subject to heavy disruption and also will be busy.
For passengers between Watford Junction and Clapham Junction, you may use Southern tickets on the following:
- London Overground between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction and between London Euston and Watford Junction.
- London Northwestern Railway between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central
- London Underground between London Victoria and London Euston.
The reason for the disruption is that a power failure has occurred near Leighton Buzzard and has caused damage to the signals in both directions.
Engineers are on site trying to resolve the issue, but an initial investigation show it will not be a quick fix. An emergency plan has been implemented to allow some trains to run, but until the signalling system is fixed, Southern trains cannot run north of Watford Junction.
This page will be updated with any more information that may be released.
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“It is expected that disruption will last until 12 pm on 7th October”. There is no such time as 12pm. It’s either 12 noon (12:00) or 12 midnight (24:00/00:00). PM is the abbreviation for “post meridian” which is Latin for “after midday”. 12 noon is midday, so it can’t be after (or before).