Last night saw more travel misery for many on one of the busiest ever days for transport in the capital.
Things would already have been busy, with up to a million people packed into just the area of Buckingham Palace and the surrounding royal parks.
But problems with overhead power cables on the route west out of London meant that services to and from Paddington were disrupted yesterday – and it’s still going on.
Many people were stranded in Reading well into last night, finding their trains further west cancelled or delayed when they finally got there.
Others, who wanted to go into the capital, were also stuck after no trains have entered or left the station since 6.30am yesterday.
Station staff were trying to order taxis for passengers who risked becoming stuck at Reading station overnight amid a limited number of departing trains.
Some were taken as far as Birmingham by car as a result.
Stage manager Emily Walls tweeted a photo of a crowded Reading Station, saying: ‘I found all the crowds from the #funeral… chaos and no trains from Paddington, huge queues at #readingstation for trains going west. It’ll be a long evening. Well done @networkrail and @south_railw’.
One woman, who was visibly distressed by the disruption, said her journey in and out of London would end up taking around 10 hours as opposed to the usual three.
It meant she missed the Queen’s funeral and procession which she had come to see.
Another passenger, who asked not to be named, said: ‘The communication has been diabolical.
‘People have been told to get off trains that were actually running and change services to get to different destinations, only to find that those trains were then cancelled.
‘There doesn’t seem to have been any forward thinking as to what would happen in the evening, despite the problems going on all day.’
National Rail said the disruption was expected to continue until midday today, by which time they hope to have fixed the electric wires near Hayes and Harlington station.
Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line were disrupted all day yesterday, with many who hoped to be in London for the Queen’s funeral ending up having to watch it on their phones.
The sound of the choir at Westminster Abbey echoed through the carriages of delayed trains as mourners watched the service on their smartphones.
Bev Palfreman said she was ‘absolutely gutted’ to miss the start of the funeral.
The 61-year-old from Oakhampton, Devon, said: ‘The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do.’
Gaby Thomas, 29, who travelled from Castle Cary, Somerset, with her father, said yesterday: ‘My dad is a former naval officer and he wanted to see the procession and the military involved.
‘It’s just about being there. We were meant to arrive in Paddington at about 8.30am. We are still hoping to catch the end of the procession.’
Passengers on a GWR train were told by a member of staff using the public address system: ‘My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country.’
A train that left Paddington at 6.25am was stuck outside the station for more than two-and-a-half hours with passengers on board.
One passenger said it took them five-and-a-half hours to reach Paddington from Castle Cary, instead of the scheduled one hour and 40 minutes.
A Network Rail spokesman apologised for the disruption, saying: ‘We are working hard to get services running as soon as possible and passengers are strongly advised to check before they travel.
‘We will continue to update passengers as the situation develops.’
Network Rail said there were no problems affecting London’s other major stations.
Monday saw one of the UK’s biggest transport operations as mourners descended on London and Windsor.
Around 250 extra train services were planned.
But the problems in Paddington put extra pressure on other services, with BBC journalist Tom Edwards sharing video of a giant queue snaking through Waterloo Station, mainly made up of people trying to get to Reading via another route.
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