Broken rail and shortage of signallers leads to delays and cancellations at London Paddington

A broken rail has led to services in and out of London Paddington to be delayed or cancelled.

Network Rail engineers found the defect on one of the high-speed lines near the station, causing disruption to Great Westen Railway (GWR), Heathrow Express and Elizabeth Line services.

A GWR spokesman said: “Due to this, the defect will be monitored whilst trains run at a reduced speed. Due to the high frequency of services in this area, and the delays this will impose on them, the decision has been made to amended some services to minimise delay to passengers.”

A shortage of signallers, after one was taken ill on Tuesday morning, also means fewer trains than normal can run between Paddington and Slough.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.