Early morning fire at Vauxhall results in most services into Waterloo being cancelled
Images from Twitter of the damage and fire. Picture: Network Rail
South West Trains (SWT) have said that they expect the disruption to continue until the end of the day, following a fire on the tracks at 3am at Vauxhall station.
London Fire Brigade say the fire is now out but signalling cables have been damaged.
There have been tweets that the wooden platforms at Vauxhall have been destroyed by the, however there is no confirmation of this as yet.
SWT are unable to use 5 out of 8 main lines due to the fire and will be running a very limited service until all lines are reopened.
Most services into Waterloo are cancelled until further notice including those on the Hounslow Loop line serving Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth. Other services through Putney, Wandsworth and Barnes are also much reduced.
Live Updates on South West Trains Services
Train services are planned to operate as below:
-London Waterloo to Reading will run as scheduled in both directions.
-London Waterloo to Weybridge will run as scheduled in both directions.
-London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside will not run in both directions.
-London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Hounslow & Twickenham will not run
-London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Twickenham & Hounslow will not run
-London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Kingston & Richmond will terminate at Clapham Junction
-London Waterloo to London Waterloo via Richmond & Kingston will start at Clapham Junction
-Farnham to London Waterloo via Ascot services departing at 21 and 51 minutes past will not run.
-Shepperton to London Waterloo via Twickenham services departing at 00 and 30 minutes past will not run.
-London Waterloo to Portsmouth stations may start and terminate at Woking and Guildford.
-London Waterloo to Hampton Court will be cancelled
The fire at Vauxhall in the early hours of this morning. Picture: London Fire Brigade
You may use your tickets on Great Western Railway via any reasonable route, Southern Railway between Dorking/Epsom/Clapham Junction and London Victoria, London Buses on all reasonable routes, London Underground, Overground and Tramlink on all reasonable routes, Govia Thameslink services, Cross Country services on all reasonable routes.
SWT are trying to source road replacement transport and will provide details when they have confirmation that they are in operation.
Firefighters tackle the blaze at Vauxhall. Picture: London Fire Brigade
The rail union, RMT issued a statement;
"RMT members will be working flat out to try and restore services in and out of Vauxhall as the investigations into the cause of this fire get underway. RMT will be taking a close interest in those investigations and the hard facts that they throw up.
"This morning's fire is another reminder of just how crucial a vigilant and pro-active safety culture is on Britain's over-stretched railways.
"The union is aware that there are emergency evacuations of stations back down the lines from Vauxhall due to dangerous overcrowding. RMT station staff and train crew will be leading those emergency safety procedures demonstrating again the safety-critical role of the entire railway team."
May 5, 2016