Paddington train chaos set to continue

CHAOS at one of the UK’s busiest railway stations could continue into a third day after overhead electric wires were damaged by the testing of a new £500m train fleet.

Services in and out of London Paddington – including GWR services from South Wales – may still be disrupted today after the severity of the damage meant engineers would be unable to complete repairs overnight, Network Rail warned.

The station, which serves around 100,000 passengers each day, was deserted for much of yesterday after services on many key routes were suspended.

Trains were unable to run between the capital and Slough or Heathrow Airport after 500 metres of overhead power cables suffered extensive damage at Ealing at around 10pm on Tuesday.

Engineers were to try to resolve the issue after rush hour yesterday by installing new wires before trains resumed the following morning.

“The extent of the damage means we will not be able to complete our repairs in one night, so while services on Thursday morning will be significantly improved, there may still be some disruption,” a Network Rail statement said. “We advise passengers to continue to check with train operators before travelling. We apologise to passengers who have been affected by this major incident.”

Network Rail, the Governmentowned company responsible for managing Britain’s rail infrastructure, had been planning how to fix the issue throughout the day, but could only perform repairs while trains were not running.

Great Western Railway (GWR), Heathrow Express and TfL Rail services have been affected.

Two of the four lines usually used were opened at around 12.40pm after engineers cleared debris and restored power so trapped trains could be moved but disruption was expected to continue throughout yesterday.

The damage was caused by a high-speed Class 802 Hitachi train which was being tested between London and Bristol ahead of its handover to GWR.

A Hitachi spokesman said: “After years of successful testing on the route, we are taking today very seriously. A full and thorough investigation is taking place to identify the cause.”