Travel chaos spills into ANOTHER day as thousands are left stranded after major London train station is shut off
THOUSANDS of passengers have been left stranded as train chaos at London Paddington continued overnight.
Journey times for others were more than trebled, as they desperately tried to find different routes home.
Services only resumed at around 9.30am. None had left the major station since 6.30am yesterday because of damage to overhead electric wires, meaning many Brits failed to make it to the capital for the Queen’s funeral.
In Berkshire, Reading Station saw long queues of people trying to get on to services back into London and others finding their trains cancelled or delayed as they tried to travel further west.
Station staff were trying to order taxis for passengers who lived further afield and risked becoming stuck at the station overnight amid a limited number of departing trains, with some being taken as far as Birmingham by car as a result.
One distressed woman said her journey in and out of London yesterday would be around 10 hours rather than three and meant she missed the Queen's funeral and procession which she had come to see.
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Another passenger said: "The communication has been diabolical.
"People have been told to get off trains that were actually running and change services to get to different destinations, only to find that those trains were then cancelled.
"There doesn't seem to have been any forward thinking as to what would happen in the evening, despite the problems going on all day."
Mourners travelling into the capital in the morning resorted to watching funeral proceedings on their phones as they were stuck on trains and platforms.
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Bev Palfreman said she was "absolutely gutted" to miss the start of the funeral.
The 61-year-old from Oakhampton, Devon, said: "The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do."
Gaby Thomas, 29, who travelled from Castle Cary, Somerset, with her father, said: "My dad is a former naval officer and he wanted to see the procession and the military involved.
"It's just about being there. We were meant to arrive in Paddington at about 8.30am. We are still hoping to catch the end of the procession."
Passengers on a GWR train were told by a member of staff using the public address system: "My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country."
A train that left Paddington at 6.25am was stuck outside the station for more than two-and-a-half hours with passengers on board.
One passenger said it took them five-and-a-half hours to reach Paddington from Castle Cary, instead of the scheduled one hour and 40 minutes.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are very sorry for the disruption which we expect to continue throughout the day.
"We are working hard to get services running as soon as possible and passengers are strongly advised to check before they travel.
"We will continue to update passengers as the situation develops."
Network Rail said there were no problems affecting London's other major stations.
Monday saw one of the UK's biggest transport operations as mourners descended on London and Windsor.
Around 250 extra train services were planned.
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They included a 3am departure from Penzance, Cornwall, for Paddington, which left with no passengers, according to news website CornwallLive.
The service only ran as far as Reading due to the damaged wires.