London Euston station trains disrupted for hours after points failure

A points failure caused severe disruption for passengers at Euston station in Central London today (Sunday, October 15). The issue was reported at around 10.45am and led to no trains entering or leaving the station for several hours.

Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway and London Overground services on the route were all affected. The train lines reopened by early afternoon, PA reports, but major disruptionwas still expected to continue until the end of the day. 

Points can fail if they get clogged with debris or ice, the drive mechanism fails or they expand too much in hotter weather. Network Rail says it is introducing uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), which take over when the main power supply is cut, to, officials say, minimise delays to passengers.

In areas that don’t have UPS, engineers making the power supply "more reliable" by replacing ageing cables. In addition, the organisation says it has invested in fault-finding equipment so its staff can "fix problems before they happen".

Today's issues come after the station hit the headlines in recent weeks after the Government made changes to HS2. There had been rumours that officials were scrapping the line from Old Oak Common in West London to Euston, but the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, announced at the Conservative Party's annual conference last month that new trains would after all be terminating in Central London.

But, he added that the management of HS2 would no longer be responsible for the Euston site, with the Government instead looking for investment from the private sector.