Slippery rails lead to train delays (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

South West Trains delayed through Clapham Junction and Richmond because of 'slippery rails'

9:26am Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Rachel Bishop

Trains through Clapham Junction and Richmond are subject to delays and cancellations at the last minute due to “slippery rail conditions".

Routes between London Waterloo and Reading are delayed by up to 30 minutes due to icy conditions on the conductor rail.

A spokeswoman for the South West Trains Network Rail Alliance said: "Services on parts of our network are being disrupted this morning as a result of adverse weather conditions which have also affected other train operators.

"Cold weather conditions have caused a build-up of ice on the conductor rail which is used to power our trains.

"When ice forms on the conductor rail, it affects the power supply to trains and services are prevented from running normally.

"We would like to apologise to customers for the delays to their journeys this morning.

"We are working hard to restore services to normal as quickly as possible."

Services are terminating and starting at Wokingham and tickets are being accepted on First Great Western Services to Reading.

One passenger said: “I was waiting at Clapham Junction and the board for the Reading train simply said 'delayed'.

"It didn’t give a time, so a lot of passengers got on the Hounslow via Richmond train. It’s not ideal for a Monday morning.”