A major signalling failure at London Waterloo railway station has caused severe disruption, with customers urged not to travel on South Western Railway (SWR) trains.
SWR said the signalling issue has been fixed but has urged passengers not to use its train services “until further notice”, with problems expected to continue until at least 21:00 BST.
The rail operator said with so many trains and crew out of position, only a limited number of services will be reintroduced in the coming hours.
Passengers have been told they cannot claim money from SWR for taxis but can use their tickets on some other rail or bus services.
At one point, 14 platforms were out of use at London Waterloo.
In a joint statement Network Rail and SWR said they were still advising people not to travel.
“Our teams are now focused on getting trains and crews into the right place to run a reliable service for the afternoon and evening peak,” they said.
“We are very sorry for the disruption today. Please continue to check for updates.”
Jessica Halstead, who was trying to travel with her two children, told the BBC she was feeling “frustrated” after waiting around for over an hour on the station concourse.
“It’s quite hard trying to entertain children on a station platform…do I need to get them some lunch, when will the train go? It’s pretty disruptive,” Ms Halstead said.
“At what point do you just turn around give up?”
While passengers were seen sitting on the concourse floor as they waited for trains at Waterloo, customers across the SWR network experienced delays and cancellations.
Rory Smith, who was trying to travel from Southampton to help set the Camp Bestival event in Shropshire, told the BBC his train had been cancelled and that his travel apps were not up to date.
“It would be ideal if things ran a little more seamlessly… not feeling like I have to scramble to find alternative routes.”
Dan Cokely, visiting from the US, said he boarded and then had to get off several trains on his journey from Waterloo to Southampton.
“I am frustrated,” he said.
“This is my third time using British Rail of some sort and third disruption”.
The incident was reported at around 05:30, according to National Rail.
Passengers can use their rail tickets on specified routes with London Buses, Falcon Buses, Stagecoach South, and Morebus operators as well as certain train journeys on the Tube, CrossCountry, Southern and Great Western Railway.
SWR was the first operator brought into public ownership by the Labour government in May, with a second train company, c2c, nationalised by Labour on Sunday.
Operator c2c runs services between London Fenchurch Street and south Essex.