Commuters have been caught in travel mayhem atLondonPaddington station after a trespasser forced a railway line to close.
Trains ground to a halt at peak rush hour after a trespasser was spotted on the railway line in the Southall area today.
Passengers between Paddington,Heathrow Airportand Reading face severe delays and cancellations, with trains running up to 40 minutes behind schedule.
At Paddington, the concourse entrance to theElizabeth linebecame overcrowded after trains were axed.
Alice Murphy, Metro’straveleditor, described the situation at Paddington as ‘absolutely chaos.’
‘It is really difficult to move in the station and crowds of people are piling up,’ she said.
Footage shared onsocial mediaappears to show a man, thought to be the trespasser, casually walking down therailwayline and lighting up a cigarette.
An eyewitness said: ‘The reason all the trains into and out of Paddington are currently delayed. Just casually walking up the fast line between Hanwell and Southall!’
Here are the lines which are affected by the disruption.
- Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Maidenhead / Reading, and also between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5
- Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway / Oxford / Worcester Foregate Street / Hereford / Cardiff Central / Swansea / Carmarthen / Newbury / Bristol Temple Meads / Weston-super-Mare / Exeter St Davids / Paignton / Plymouth / Penzance
- Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5
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