This is a developing story. Live updates from our newsroom feed appear below and refresh automatically.
Evening commuters heading out of London Waterloo were thrown into chaos on Thursday after police dealing with an incident between Woking and Brookwood forced the closure of all railway lines through the area.
National Rail confirmed that trains running between Woking and Ash Vale, and between Woking and Basingstoke, were being cancelled or severely delayed, with some services revised or terminated short of their destinations. Passengers were warned to expect delays of up to 120 minutes as South Western Railway services through one of the busiest stretches of the commuter network ground to a halt.
The incident was first reported at 4.28pm, and as of the latest update at 9.53pm the disruption was expected to continue until the end of service.
Which journeys are affected
The closure bites across the South Western Railway network in and out of London Waterloo, including routes to Aldershot, Alton, Basingstoke, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Central. Commuters heading for Guildford, Farnham, Haslemere, Woking and stations down the main line towards the south coast all face severe disruption this evening.
The Woking–Brookwood corridor is a choke point on the railway out of Waterloo: with all lines closed, there is no way for trains to run through the section in either direction, which is why delays have built to two hours and some services have been cancelled outright.
Passengers travelling tonight are advised to check National Rail Enquiries or the South Western Railway website before setting off, and to allow significantly more time for their journeys. If your train is cancelled, you may be able to use an alternative route at no extra charge.
Ticket acceptance and alternative routes
National Rail has put ticket acceptance in place so stranded passengers are not left without options. Tickets dated Thursday 22 October can now also be used on Friday 23 October on South Western Railway services, giving commuters the option of deferring their journey to the morning if they prefer.
Alternative acceptance arrangements cover Great Western Railway services between London Paddington and Exeter, CrossCountry services between Basingstoke and Bournemouth, Southern services between London Victoria and Portsmouth or Southampton, plus the London Underground and local bus routes. If you can switch to a different operator or mode, staff at stations will be able to advise which routes are covered.
How disruption updates work
When a major incident closes part of the railway, National Rail updates its service information continuously as the situation develops. This evening’s updates have come through roughly every half hour, and the advice can change at short notice — so it is worth checking again close to your departure time rather than relying on an earlier alert.
Under the Delay Repay scheme, passengers delayed by 15 minutes or more on eligible services can claim compensation from the train operator, even when the disruption was caused by events outside the operator’s control. Keep your tickets or booking confirmations.
For those who cannot travel tonight, station staff can endorse tickets for travel on Friday, and the extra day of validity announced by National Rail means there is no rush to force a journey through the disruption tonight if you can wait until the morning.
A disrupted evening on the railways
The Brookwood closure adds to a night of railway disruption across London and the south east. Earlier on Thursday, Great Western Railway announced it would cut back its West Country long-distance services to Plymouth on Friday as Storm Austen brings 80mph gusts to Devon and Cornwall, while weekend road closures on the M25 have been published for 23–26 October.
Police have not given details of the nature of the Brookwood incident. Follow the live feed at the top of this page for the latest updates as the situation develops.
