Hundreds of thousands of London commuters face rush hour misery as cable fire severely disrupts services to Marylebone Station

THOUSANDS of commuters heading into London have been hit with rush-hour chaos after a cable fire broke out this morning.

Chiltern Railways warned passengers in the Midlands, Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley there was major disruption following a cable fire at Neasden on Tuesday - with the blaze taking out signals along the line.

The railway released a series of messages on social media in an attempt to warn commuters of the delays with warnings to avoid travel completely this morning also issued.

The 6.31 and 7.24 from Banbury to London Marylebone have both been cancelled and other services may face the same.

The 7.50 Princes Risborough to Marylebone was also cancelled.

Chiltern Railways said "A major cable fire today on Kilburn railway viaduct has led to a complete cancellation of train services in and out of London Marylebone.

"The fire, reported at 4am, destroyed data and power cables taking out all the signalling - the railway equivalent of traffic lights - between Marylebone and Neasden Junction."

In a statement, the company said that engineers were still waiting for fire fighters to finish their work dampening down the blaze so that they could begin repairs - predicted to take at least 24 hours.

Martin Ball, area director for Network Rail, said: "Engineers will make the necessary repairs as soon as they are safely able to do so. I know how frustrating incidents like this are for travelling customers, who are at the front of our mind as we seek to fix this problem."

He said that it was not clear what had caused the fire.

Earlier in the morning, information released by the railway said that all lines between Neasden South Jn and London Marylebone were blocked.

It said: "Chiltern train passengers who had planned to travel from Marylebone today are advised is to use another station on another route. Chiltern tickets are being accepted by Virgin, London Midland, CrossCountry and GWR.

It said that customers should try to delay their journey if possible.

But customers have slammed the railway for the poor communication.

Henry Taylor wrote on Twitter: "Really pathetic communications as  usual on @chilternrailway I don't k now why you bother."

Another wrote that they had been emailed at 7am that the service was working - with the commuter arriving at the station 10 minutes later to find their train had been delayed.

Others praised the information being shared by Chiltern Railways.

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