London Euston delays: Rush-hour chaos as signal failure closes most lines amid Extinction Rebellion protests

On a normal weekday, 140,000 passengers use the station

Another rush hour at the UK’s fifth-busiest rail station has been brought almost to a standstill by a signal failure.

Commuters who would normally use Euston station, the southern terminus of the West Coast main line, have been urged to use other lines.

In the early hours of Thursday, a signal failure between Euston and Wembley closed most lines. Only the London Overground was unaffected.

By 7am some lines had reopened and trains began running, but rolling stock and train staff are out of position.

Passengers are being told: “Some London Northwestern Railway and Virgin Trains services will continue terminate at alternative stations and you are strongly advised to use alternative travel options to help complete your journey.

“Your journey time will be significantly longer this morning.”

Virgin Trains, which runs from Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland to Euston, warned: “Major disruption to and from London Euston expected until at least 10am.”

The train operator has abandoned ticket restrictions for the morning – meaning that passengers can board any train to their destination regardless of their ticket status.

London Northwestern Railway is running a half hourly service calling at all stations between Northampton and Euston, but these are very heavily loaded.

Rail replacement buses are running between Milton Keynes Central and Luton Airport Parkway and also between Watford Junction and Wellingborough to connect customers with alternative trains to and from London St Pancras.

Passengers are able to switch to Chiltern between Birmingham and London Marylebone.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “A major signalling problem is affecting all trains into and out of London Euston this morning. We’re advising passengers to check their journey before they travel using National Rail Enquiries, as it may be severely impacted.

“The fault was identified around 3:30am this morning between Queens Park and Willesden Junction station. Our staff are on site working as hard as they can to get trains on the move again.”

On a normal weekday, 140,000 passengers use Euston, which is the fifth-busiest station in Britain.

Meanwhile, Extinction Rebellion protesters have been pulled from the top of trains by angry commuters as they target London’s tube network this morning.

Parts of the Jubilee line have been shut down after a number of the climate activists climbed on to a train at Canning Town station. British Transport Police said there were two additional incidents at Stratford and Shadwell.