Tube and Train Delays in London Sign of Things to Come?

Severe delays on train and tube services into London brought misery for commuters as parts of the transport network ground to a halt this morning.

Passengers were left standing on crowded platforms or packed into carriages when trains were cancelled or the number of carriages drastically cut.

The grim conditions for commuters came as London braced itself for hail, rain and near-freezing temperatures in the coming weeks.

On the mainline service between Victoria and London Bridge, a 30-minute journey to work took an hour and a half for some passengers.

Between Teddington and Waterloo, commuters were forced to jostle for space as the number of carriages was cut in half, from eight to four.

Meanwhile the entire East London Overground was shut down and staff closed barriers at stations and turned away passengers on their way to work after a person fell ill at Shadwell Station.

The shutdown came after the Overground service between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction failed to open on time, when overnight engineering works finished late, causing yet more delays for commuters.

One frustrated commuter spent 90 minutes sat on a South West Trains service between Streatham Hill and London. He said: "The whole journey was an absolute joke.

"Having waited in the freezing temperatures for the one delayed train, the second train took more than an hour and a half to arrive at London Bridge - three times the length it should take."

The story is worse for people who live outside London and travel to work in the capital city. Round journey times from Brighton can double to up to six hours when conditions become difficult.

A frustrated commuter told IBTimes UK that the transport system appeared to be "at breaking point."

He said: "My three-hour round trip can frequently turn in to four hours and on days like today, I'm looking at five or six hours. [The] bad weather seems to be pushing more people to the tube and it feels like the system is at breaking point.

"When these delays impact on thousands of people, it's not difficult to imagine the huge benefit to the economy of a more efficient transport system."

South West Trains did not respond to requests for a comment at time of publication.