Wimbledon Tube Still Suspended After Train Derailment

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Train and tube passenger chaos after rush-hour incident

District Line services from Wimbledon are set to remain suspended for the rest of today (November 7) after a train derailed outside the station yesterday.

The South Western Railway train suffered a low-speed partial derailment near the platforms used by District Line services.

This blocked both the local train line into Wimbledon and District line services between Wimbledon and Earls Court.

The line was extensively damaged by the incident and Transport for London said the District Line would remain closed from Wimbledon throughout today.

One person was reportedly injured in the incident which occurred at 6.30am on Monday, with nine fire engines attending the scene. Passengers on the derailed train had to be helped onto the track to safety, which took until 8.15am.

Although South Western Trains came back into service, the incident affected their empty trains leaving Wimbledon Park Depot, which form peak-time services towards London Waterloo. They warned this would cause some coaches to consist of fewer carriages for the rest of today and into tomorrow.

Two other faults on the South Western network hampered their ability to restore their services after the incident.

Christian Neill, Head of Customer Experience at South Western Rail, said: "I am very sorry for the disruption that many of you would have likely experienced whilst travelling on our network following the low-speed derailment of one our trains near Wimbledon.

"We are grateful to the emergency services who responded swiftly to this incident and thankful there were no serious injuries to any of our passengers. We worked hard to ensure that customers were able to leave the train as quickly and safely as possible, with this process completed by 08.15am. 

"There is extensive damage to the track which our infrastructure partners are working to repair as soon as possible. 

"During the morning we also suffered two separate train faults on our network. Although these were rectified quickly this hampered our ability to recover the train service. 

"To help you complete your journey today, we arranged ticket acceptance on alternative services. We also agreed for District Line passengers to use their tickets on South Western Railway services via any reasonable route. We will be looking to follow a similar process tomorrow if these issues are not resolved. 

"I fully appreciate how frustrating it is when your train service doesn’t run as planned and we are extremely grateful for your patience and support during today’s disruption. We are sorry for any difficulties you may have experienced."

Live Updates on South Western Rail Services

November 7, 2017