Thousands of people could miss flights from a London airport today due to signalling failures on a connecting rail line.
Thameslink and East Midlands Railway services to Luton have been cancelled or severely delayed due to the fault, impacting holidaymakers.
Also affected are services from London to St Albans, Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham.
Network Rail has apologised, saying the fault was due to the installation of a new signal control system.
Gary Walsh, route director for Network Rail, which is responsible for infrastructure, said: “I am very sorry that our engineering work is affecting passengers today.”
He continued: “There is a fault with part of the signalling control system which means we need to reduce the number of trains which are able to run.
“Siemens signalling engineers are working to restore a reliable system as soon as possible.”
Travellers have taken to social media to complain about the delays and cancellations.
One said: “Nice one Thameslink, ruined our plans yet again with more line problems – conveniently on the day we all need to head back out.”
Another said: “What an absolute shambles of a train service Thameslink are running yet again. Every single northbound train is cancelled or massively delayed. Thameslink and Network Rail make travelling miserable.”
Thameslink issued an alert to passengers today, which said: “Please do not attempt travel between Bedford and London Bridge until further notice.
“The earlier disruption caused by multiple signal failures has now reoccurred. Due to the level of disruption, passengers are advised to delay travelling until later.
“If you do decide to travel, you will need to use alternative means on some or all of your journey, and you will need to allow an additional 60 minutes to travel.”
