SOUTH West Trains have vowed to run a normal service today after engineers repaired damage caused by a fire.

Thousands of rail passengers across the south were hit by major delays yesterday after a blaze broke out at Vauxhall station in the early hours.

The fire closed four of the eight tracks at Vauxhall, resulting in a day of travel chaos for passengers heading in and out of Waterloo.

People using Southampton and other stations in the region were hit by delays, cancellations and overcrowding.

This evening South West Trains announced that the damage caused by the fire had been repaired, resulting in all lines being re-opened.

A spokesman said: "Trains will continued to be affected until the end of service today but we are going to run a normal train service tomorrow.

"Tickets valid for travel today will now also be valid for travel tomorrow.”

The blaze broke out in signalling cables under one of the platforms at Vauxhall at 2.30am.

Network Rail said it suspected the fire was caused by a spark from a passing grinder train that was smoothing out worn rail tracks.

South West Trains urged passengers not to travel in and out of Waterloo unless “absolutely necessary” and advised them to use other forms of transport if possible.