Travel misery for rail commuters (From Daily Echo)

Travel misery for rail commuters

9:54am Tuesday 19th March 2013 in News

Many train commuters endured more travel misery today after being caught up in two separate incidents.

The unfortunate passengers were travelling on South West Trains' (SWT) services with the first hold-up being due to signalling problems at Portsmouth Harbour.

Those heading for London with SWT, who had been delayed by the Portsmouth problem, then got held up in south west London due to a track problem between Raynes Park and Wimbledon.

Speed restrictions had to be imposed, with some rush-hour trains being brought to a halt. Passengers on board the stopped trains complained of a lack of information.

SWT's west of England services from Exeter and Salisbury were starting and finishing at Basingstoke.

Passengers travelling to or from London's Waterloo station had to change trains at Basingstoke.

The track problem also meant that SWT's Waterloo-Hampton Court service was only running between Hampton Court and Surbiton.

There were other SWT service alterations as well, with passengers being warned that trains between Epsom and Dorking might be cancelled.

Today's disruption follows major hold-ups yesterday in southern England due to the icing up of the ''third rail'' from which trains get their power.

Transport Minister Norman Baker was critical of the rail industry for being ''wrong-footed'' by the cold snap. He also expressed his disappointment at the lack of information supplied to passengers yesterday.

To compound passengers' misery yesterday, an overhead wire problem - the latest in a series of such difficulties - led to delays on the West Coast main line.