Major rail disruption in South of England following radio fault

Rail services across the South of England have been hit by major disruption following a radio fault, according to National Rail.

South Western Railway, CrossCountry, Southern Trains, Gatwick Express, the London Overground and Thameslink all saw cancellations and delays on Thursday morning after an issue affected radio communications between trains and signallers.

National Rail said the problem was reported before 09:00 on Thursday and about an hour an a half later updated its website to say "incident resolved".

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Staff have worked to resolve the fault, and train services are now returning to normal."

Southern Rail said services to and from London Victoria were particularly affected, as well as its West Coastway route between Brighton and Portsmouth/Southampton.

Gatwick Express warned of delays for services running to and from London Victoria.

Passengers who are currently travelling should listen to announcements and check station screens for the latest information.

Gatwick Express said tickets can be used on alternative routes at no extra cost.

South Western Railway said services across its entire network "may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or revised".

Thameslink had also warned of likely delays on its services running to and from Brighton, Horsham, and Three Bridges.

Southeastern rail services were not affected.