Major rail disruption as overhead wire damage causes chaos at London King’s Cross and passengers warned ‘do not travel’

Passengers are being warned not to travel on Sunday as evening as overhead wiring damage causes chaos on the railway network.

Damage to the overhead wires between Peterborough and Stevenage is expected to cause major disruption until the end of the day as certain lines are blocked.

Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, LNER, Lumo and Thameslink are all affected by the disruption which has caused cancellations, severe delays and trains forced to run at different stations or on a shortened route to minimise disruption.

LNER are advising customers not to travel today and defer travel where possible, with tickets dated for Sunday valid for travel on Monday and Tuesday.

A National Rail spokesperson said: “Please allow extra time to make your journey as you may need to use an alternative route or change trains partway through to reach your destination.

“If you have a Great Northern or Thameslink ticket, rail replacement buses are running between Peterborough and Hitchin. Please speak to staff or use the help points for information and departure times.

“The train operators have put into place ticket acceptance and ticket easements for you to be able to complete your journey today.”

The incident has caused chaos at London King’s Cross with travellers taking to social media in a frenzy.

One person wrote on X that their 18-year-old daughter was stuck at the station with a job interview the next morning.

They said: “got an 18y/o daughter stuck at London King’s Cross – no help, stuck in queues and has a big job interview to be back for in the morning. Please advise, no one has replied to my DM”.

Another person said there was “chaos” at the station with LNER staff unsure when the next train would leave.

It comes after a week of train issues across the country with a major derailment between Lewes and Hayward Heath on Thursday.

Network Rail said the line would remain closed for at least another 10 days following the train derailment that seriously injured two passengers.

Meanwhile, a Greater Anglia train derailed on Friday south of Wickford railway station in Essex, injuring no one.

Martin Frobisher, group safety and engineering director at Network Rail, told BBC Radio 4’s Today that investigations into the incidents in Essex and East Sussex will be “looking at climate and all sorts of other issues”.