Paddington trains resume after rail chaos caused mourners to miss the Queen's funeral
Services at Paddington railway station resumed after a 27-hour suspension that caused thousands of mourners to miss the Queen’s funeral.
Trains began running to and from the west London station at 9.30am following repairs to overhead electric wires, Network Rail said.
Disruption is likely to continue for several hours while the cause of the problem with the wires is investigated.
It is understood that wires on several trains became entangled.
Wires stretching for nearly two miles were damaged in the area around Hayes and Harlington station at around 6.30am on Monday, meaning all lines serving Paddington were blocked.
Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line trains were affected, disrupting the journeys of many people travelling to London and Windsor for the Queen’s funeral.
Network Rail said a large engineering team worked overnight to repair some of the damage.
All four lines serving Paddington have reopened, but the wires are only working above two of them.
The station will close again at 10pm on Tuesday to allow engineers to complete the repairs.
Many passengers were stranded in Reading following the Queen’s funeral. Queues of people failed to catch services back into London and others found their trains cancelled or delayed as they tried to travel further west.
Station staff tried to order taxis for passengers who lived further afield and risked becoming stuck at the station overnight, with some being taken as far as Birmingham by car.
One woman, who had visited London to see the Queen's funeral and procession, said her journey in and out of the capital was set to total around 10 hours, as opposed to the usual three, and resulted in her missing the funeral.
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.”
Mourners travelling into the capital in the morning resorted to watching funeral proceedings on their mobiles as they were stuck on trains and platforms.
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: “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 said: “We are very sorry for the disruption which we expect to continue throughout the day.
“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.”
Monday saw one of the UK’s biggest transport operations as mourners descended on London and Windsor.
Around 250 extra train services were planned.
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