- Trains between the Midlands and Manchester were affected by signal failure
- Are YOU stuck at Euston? Email fran.wolfisz@dailymail.co.uk
Commuters warned of “utter chaos” and “dangerous crowding” at Euston station, while passengers were stranded on trains with “broken air conditioning” due to a signaling failure during rush hour.
The situation was made worse by a faulty announcement system, meaning that railway bosses were unable to fully inform passengers about what had happened.
London Euston posted on X that “due to a fault with our signalling system at Watford there will be disruption to train services to/from Euston this evening” and advised passengers to check online before travelling.
The post continued: “We deeply regret the passengers affected.”
The signal failure at Watford Junction station is affecting train services on the route between the Midlands and Manchester.
Avanti West Coast is disrupted between London Euston and Wolverhampton, Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly and Edinburgh.
The London Northwestern Railway is disrupted between London Euston and Tring, Milton Keynes Central, Birmingham New Street and Crewe.
After the switch failure at Watford Junction, the lines have now reopened.
National Rail has advised that there may be cancellations, delays of up to 40 minutes or diversions of trains through Euston.
The company added on its website that disruptions would continue until the end of the day.
Images taken from inside the station show hundreds of people standing there looking up at the display boards.
One dissatisfied passenger described the station as a “furnace” and asked the station managers on X: “Can you turn the air conditioning up? Or turn it on?”
A commuter called Josh asked Euston Station under X to explain what had happened to the announcements.
The response was: “Hi Josh, we are currently experiencing problems with the PA system, the volume is lower than normal. The station team is providing support with handheld speakers in the meantime.”
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“We are sorry about that, we are working hard on the announcements and on getting the trains moving again as quickly as possible.”
Another commuter posted on X that Euston station was “ridiculously hot and crowded and yet hardly any trains were leaving.”
A third described ‘aabsolute chaos at Euston, not knowing which trains are running, delayed or cancelled. No information at all and no guarantee that they can get me home tonight.’
One social media user decided to defuse the situation with a bit of humour, writing: “Euston, we have a problem.”
Meanwhile, commuters who were already on the move had to endure the rising temperatures in the stationary trains.
A worried commuter told Avanti West Coast he was stuck on a train in Coventry for an hour.
They tweeted: “May I suggest letting people know they can leave the train and go to the platform to cool off. Standing room only won’t help.”
Speaking to MailOnline, affected passenger Theo, 25, from south-west London, said he was “stuck” on a train between Crewe and Euston station in Watford Junction for over two hours between 4pm and 6pm.
He said: “There was a train breakdown at Watford Junction which blocked a line and then there was also the failure of the points so everything was very slow.”
“There were a lot of Network Rail people in high visibility vests. I think they sorted everything out, but of course there was a long queue [of trains] behind us.’
He added that a conductor who was serving his last day of 20 years with the London Northwestern Railway was “excellent at keeping us informed and up to date on all matters”.
When the train finally started moving again, Euston Station was, according to his description, “very hot, not a breath of wind, and busier than ever before.”