Travel misery for thousands of London commuters as massive sinkhole ‘reappears under train tracks’
Trains into London Bridge cancelled after safety inspection of line between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction
A SINKHOLE has reappeared under train tracks, causing more rush hour misery for thousands of London commuters.
Last month, the 50 ft-deep hole – which reportedly grew to 6 ft wide – opened up under tracks at Forest Hill in South London.
A safety inspection of the line between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction in South London today revealed the return of the chasm.
Lines running into London Bridge station were closed “as a safety measure” and services cancelled after the discovery of the 30cm hole at Forest Hill.
Southern Rail warned customers to expect disruption in the area until 6pm on Thursday.
And TfL warned this morning that there were no trains running to London Bridge on the East Croydon Thameslink.
Buses were accepting Southern Rail customers between London Bridge and Norwood Junction, TfL added.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “At around 3am this morning we were alerted to a small hole, around 30cm across, which appeared on the railway in the Forest Hill area.
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“Our engineers are on site assessing the damage and carrying out repairs.
“We offer our apologies to passengers travelling to London through the area this morning as their journey will be disrupted.”
The appearance of the massive sinkhole in July caused travel chaos in the South East of the capital.
All lines between London Bridge and East Croydon were taken off service, causing huge disruption for anyone travelling on Southern Rail and London Overground trains.
In all, dozens of trains were cancelled or diverted while the problem was addressed.
On 20 July, TfL Travel Alerts proudly proclaimed on Twitter that the “sink hole has been fixed”.
But the hole has made an unwelcome return and frustrated commuters today took to social media to vent their anger.
One Twitter user wrote: “Just announced no trains going to London Bridge on the East Croydon line.
“Sink hole at forest hill again. Joy!”
And Kimberly Butler tweeted: “#commuterhell #southernrail Another sink hole has reappeared.
“So no trains into London Bridge. Only was told 2 minutes outside of Brighton”
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