Thousands delayed by Tube disruption

Hundreds of thousands of Tube commuters suffered delays today due to a combination of signal failures and fire and security alerts which turned morning peak travel into chaos.

On the Central line thousands of passengers endured massive disruption when the computer controlling the busy route broke down for the third time this week.

The computer, controlling the signals in the Bethnal Green area, failed just before 7.30am. That stopped all services in either direction on the Central - one of the busiest lines on the system, used by 650,000 people a day - between Leytonstone and Liverpool Street stations.

The remainder of the line suffered knock-on delays.

Services were restored at 7.53am but delays continued throughout the morning peak. Then at 8.29am a fire alert at the combined Bank and Monument stations closed the Central line again, this time between Marble Arch and Holborn.

The alert also closed the District line between Whitechapel and Mansion House and a large part of the Circle line.

At 10.15am London Bridge station was closed by a security alert. Jubilee and Northern line trains continued to run but did not stop there. At 10.28 a second security alert shut Bond Street station on the Jubilee line.

At 10.43am the Central line and London Bridge station reopened. But delays continued on both the District and Circle lines as a result of the earlier closure of Bank and Monument.

The Metropolitan line suffered disruption because of a cracked rail in the Finchley Road area. LU imposed a 5mph speed limit to enable trains to run through and will replace the rail tonight.

The District and Piccadilly line services also suffered disruption earlier in the day after a signal failure at Ealing Common.