South London’s rail network has been thrown into chaos by a signalling shutdown

Rail services were thrown into chaos on Thursday after a signalling shutdown the night before.

There was a total loss of power in the Streatham Common area, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) said. Disruption began on Wednesday night and continued into Friday morning.

Passengers were advised to avoid Victoria, the second busiest station in the country – though Southeastern trains said their services to and from Victoria are running normally.

A spokesman from GTR, which operates Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express, said: “In the meantime passengers are urged not to travel from the south on our remaining services, which will be heavily overcrowded.”

Gatwick Airport said flight passengers should leave extra time for their journeys.

National Rail first issued a warning about a fault with the signalling system at about 11.30pm last night.

Engineers had not fixed the problem by Thursday morning so all trains were blocked through Streatham Common station causing disruption, cancellations and delays until the end of the day’s services.

Trains were packed as commuters with tickets to Victoria were allowed on board other services.

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