Commuters hit in East London by tube signal failure

THOUSANDS of commuters were hit when Underground services had to be suspended in East London during this-morning’s rush-hour. A signal failure at Bromley-by-Bow led to the District and Hammersmith & City lines being suspended. Passengers were also delayed by engineering work on National Rail lines into Liverpool Street

By Mike Brooke

THOUSANDS of commuters were hit when Underground services had to be suspended in East London during this-morning's rush-hour.

It was a cold and miserable return to work for the first Monday of the New Year after a signal failure at Bromley-by-Bow on the District and the Hammersmith & City lines. All services had to be suspended between Whitechapel and Barking.

Others passengers on National Rail were delayed by engineering work which over-ran on lines into Liverpool Street. They faced delays of up to an hour. The Stansted Express and National Express East Anglia were both hit.

There were also delays on the Overground network due to a broken down train on the North London line through Hackney.

It followed a freezing night in which temperatures fell to minus 12C (10F). But there's more to come, the Meteorological Office predicts, with the freeze continuing for the next few days.