London Overground chaos after fire alert with Clapham Junction, Highbury & Islington affected

‘A fire alarm sounding in a signaling centre at New Cross Gate means all lines are closed’ - National Rail

There are severe delays between Highbury & Islington and a number of stations

Daniel Lynch

Lydia Chantler-Hicks|Miriam Burrell14 February 2023

Commuters heading home on Tuesday are facing major disruption of London Overground services at busy stations including Clapham Junction and Highbury & Islington.

There are severe delays between Highbury & Islington and New Cross, Wandsworth Road, Crystal Palace and West Croydon due to an earlier fire alert at New Cross Gate.

This is affecting major east London stations including Dalston Junction, Shoreditch High Street and Whitechapel.

The disruption is expected until 6pm, National Rail said, with tickets being accepted on the Elizabeth Line, Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink services.

“A fire alarm sounding in a signaling centre at New Cross Gate means all lines are closed,” National Rail said.

“As a result, trains may be cancelled or delayed.”

There is also no service between Wandsworth Road and Clapham Junction because of a track fault, Transport for London (TfL) said.

London Underground are accepting tickets via “any reasonable route”.

The delays come on top of planned engineering works which began on Saturday and last until February 20, with no service between Euston and Watford Junction.

There was a good service on all other London Overground routes on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, minor delays were being reported on the Jubilee and Circle lines.

Earlier on Tuesday a power failure saw Elizabeth line trains between Paddington station and Abbey Wood in south east London cancelled.

National Rail warned no trains would run between the two stations until about 8am, while other services will also be affected. Shortly after 8am the line was confirmed to have reopened but disruption was expected until 9.15am.

The Network rail website said: “A failure of electricity supply between London Paddington and Abbey Wood means trains are currently unable to run between these stations.

“Trains between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading and between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield may also be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes.”