A major rail line remains partially closed between Euston station and Watford Junction following a large fire in north London, affecting some services to cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

About 70 firefighters tackled the blaze, which started at about 09:30 GMT at a commercial building on Regent's Park Road in Chalk Farm, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said. It was brought under control by about 13:00.

Avanti West Coast has said that while some lines have reopened, "residual delays are expected due to congestion on the network", external with disruption expected for the rest of the day.

London Northwestern Railway services from Euston have resumed following an earlier suspension.

Network Rail has advised passengers due to travel from Euston to check the status of their journey.

Other train operators are accepting tickets for services affected by the disruption, according to Network Rail, with further details on its website.

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Southern trains have resumed services between Clapham Junction and Watford Junction following earlier delays. Transport for London is not reporting any delays with Overground services that run through the affected area.

The LFB said there were no reports of any injuries but at the height of the blaze most of a neighbouring property was also alight. It said it received 27 calls from the public.

The ground floor was destroyed by the fire. Half of the roof of a neighbouring property was damaged by the fire. Seven people left another neighbouring building before the Brigade arrived. There are no reports of any injuries.

The fire is close to the site of a former hot yoga studio. The cause of the blaze is not known.

Avanti West Coast services to London were reportedly held at stations as far north as Warrington.

JD Wetherspoon is planning to open a huge new pub at Paddington Station as it continues its expansion across London’s major transport hubs.

The proposed venue would occupy more than 3,600 sq ft across two floors, including a mezzanine level, and would take over three units in the station’s former ticket hall, which provides direct access to the Bakerloo line.

If approved, it would be larger than the company’s recently opened Captain Flinders pub at Euston and slightly smaller than The Lion and The Unicorn at Waterloo.

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Train passengers are missing out on over £80 million annually in compensation for delayed journeys, a new analysis has revealed.

The shortfall has been blamed on an "unacceptable" claims processes.

Online ticket retailer Trainline, which produced the data, has called for rail reform that "focuses on what matters" to passengers.

While customers who purchase tickets directly through a train operator’s website or app can often access "one-click" compensation claims via the delay repay scheme for service disruptions, this streamlined process is unavailable to a significant portion of travellers.

Approximately one in four passengers, those who use independent ticket retailers such as Trainline, are instead forced to navigate more complicated and manual procedures to obtain their rightful payouts.

Trainline has launched a petition calling on the Government to enable “one click” claims to be made by all online ticket buyers.

The company’s chief executive Jody Ford said: “Six minutes of form-filling after a delayed train is unacceptable.

“With years of innovation and industry cooperation, we’ve made huge progress in simplifying ticket buying, but compensation must be just as easy when journeys are disrupted.

“Passengers want rail reform that focuses on what matters to them, and ‘one-click’ delay repay is a practical change the industry and Government can do together.”

A survey of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by Trainline indicated 29 per cent of train passengers failed to claim disruption compensation they were entitled to last year.

Some 58% of claimants said their most recent application took at least six minutes to complete, while 43% described the process as frustrating and time-consuming.

Ben Plowden, chief executive of pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Making compensation easy and consistent would help rebuild confidence in the railway and show passengers that their time and money are valued.”

The Government is introducing widespread reforms of the rail industry, including simplifying ticketing.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said:“We are overhauling our railways and building back public trust so that passengers can rely on trains that run on time. But where there are delays, millions of passengers do successfully receive delay repay, with most publicly-owned operators offering a one-click service.

“Our reforms are also making ticketing simpler throughout your journey – from rolling out more contactless tech at stations and trialling pay-as-you-go fares, to making it simpler to claim delay repay, including through our upcoming GBR app.”

The Rail Delivery Group was approached for a comment.

Trainline commissioned research company YouGov to conduct the survey in December 2025.

commuter

noun
a person who travels some distance to work on a regular basis.

Wow!

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be starting late from Westbury and is expected to be 20 minutes late.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 9 coaches instead of 3 to Swindon.

The reductions were nothing to do with ORCATS anyway, they were removed on request from the DfT about service duplication. There was no need for it & saved both units & staff time if removed. As the DfT is still looking to shave the budget, there is no chance of the duplications being reinstated IMHO

Another take: the service met a whole slew of different travel needs for people, was popular and well used, and as long as the railway doesn't introduce and develop this sort of service as part of addressing the glaring shortcomings of rail travel in the south west arising from the shortage of staff, rolling stock and infrastructure, it's relegating itself to a legacy transport mode.

Mark

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 has been cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Further Information

If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:30/01/2026 17:54

A commuter was left traumatised after being trapped inside a train toilet for almost two hours, with firefighters eventually being called in to cut down the door.
Robin Smith experienced the rail journey from hell after a malfunctioning automatic door left her stuck inside the small loo.
The 35-year-old, who is severely claustrophobic, almost fainted twice during the shocking incident.
Keen athlete Robin was travelling down to take part in a hyrox open ladies event when her day was turned upside down.
It happened last Saturday (24 Jan) on  CrossCountry rail service from Southampton Central to Manchester Piccadilly.

All the processes in the employment dispute appear to have been actioned correctly. Not sure what "common sense and decency" has been ignored. Unless one is advocating for ignoring due process.

From RailUser Express ("RUX may be forwarded, or items copied") January 2026

Dear Graham,

We promised to keep you updated on the impact of recent storms on the rail network. We're very grateful for the patience of our customers and communities over the past week as we've dealt with substantial flooding and damage to the railway, and the resulting impact on our train services.

Currently, the Barnstaple, Okehampton, Newquay and Looe lines remain closed. All four of these routes have substantial damage due to flooding and landslips. Our teams are working very hard each day to get these lines safely reopened as quickly as possible, but in some cases have not yet been able to assess damage because flood levels are too high and the flow of water is too fast.

As it stands, we hope that the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines will reopen for passenger services on Tuesday 3rd February, though this is subject to change. We are now able to run an hourly all stations replacement bus, an hourly direct Barnstaple-Exeter replacement bus, and a two-hourly Okehampton to Exeter replacement bus. Capacity is limited so we're asking customers to consider if their journey is necessary before setting off. Full details including ticket acceptance on local buses is available here and our team are updating journey planners as soon as possible.

The Par-Newquay line also remains closed due to flooding, and we anticipate rail services will not start again until Monday 2nd February at the earliest. Replacement buses are in operation, running from St Austell instead of Par, and we also have ticket acceptance on local buses.

Finally, the Looe line also remains closed due to damage caused by storms and flooding. This closure is expected to last until next week at the earliest and again we have replacement buses and local ticket acceptance in place.

Customers should continue to check their journeys at www.gwr.com/check or through our social media channels. With flooding still in place and saturated ground, it is possible that further rain will result in more disruption and we will of course keep you updated.

Any help you can give to share this amongst your networks would be much appreciated, and if there's any questions you may have please do not hesitate to let us know.

Transport for London has ruled out reviving a "lost" London Underground station which shut due to a lack of passengers. Commuters in Ongar, Essex want Central line services which currently terminate in Essex to be extended to the previous terminal which was axed in 1994.

Passenger numbers had dropped throughout previous decades until just 85 people a day were using it. London Regional Transport, which ran the Central line until TfL took ownership in 2003, was losing so much money the Ongar stationmaster remarked it would be cheaper to buy each passenger an Austin 7 car rather than keep it open.

However, local leaders are now calling on TfL to reinstate the line to help Epping Forest District Council keep pace with Government housebuilding targets. Speaking at a committee meeting on Tuesday (January 27), Ongar councillor Tom Bromwich said: “We're looking at a different reality.

Thinking of where in the Coffeeshop area people would like to send (in a positive way) the Inspiration Train. Not sure what it needs by way of length of platform face and of course it needs not to bring the network to a halt... Parkend?

Mark