Passengers told to avoid London’s Waterloo Station all day after major signalling problem 

Rail passengers have been advised to avoid London Waterloo due to major signalling problems, which have resulted in a significantly reduced service and disruption expected throughout the day. 

South Western Railway has warned customers not to travel to or from the station, which is the busiest in Britain, as 14 out of its 24 platforms are currently closed. 

Network Rail has confirmed a “major power failure” to equipment and is investigating the fault, which occurred before 04:00. Even if the issue is resolved soon, disruption is likely to continue across the network for some time. 

Peter Williams, SWR’s customer and commercial director, apologised for the disruption and said that the problem was still under investigation. Two services per hour are running between Reading and London, while stations such as Queenstown Road and Hampton Court have no service at all. London Waterloo sees 41.4 million passengers travelling through every year.