Commuters are braced for another rush hour nightmare in south London after a power failure left thousands stranded on trains this morning.
Network Rail said severe disruption is expected to continue throughout the evening following the chaotic scenes earlier, as engineers continue working to remove damaged trains from the tracks.
Commuters are being warned to steer clear of Victoria, with Gatwick Express services from the station among the worst affected, and seek routes from Blackfriars and Waterloo instead.
Trains between Balham and Victoria are running up to 90 minutes late and London Bridge and Clapham Junction will also see significant delays this evening.
This morning, some passengers were stuck in stuffy carriages for nearly five hours this morning as emergency services boarded trains to hand out water.
One Southern train containing an estimated 900 people was emptied south of Clapham Junction with passengers being led along the track to safety.
The problems occurred during morning rush hour between Wandsworth Common and the major Clapham Junction interchange in south-west London. The fault with the conductor rail damaged a "number" of trains, Network Rail said.
A Network Rail spokeswoman said: "Following this morning's damage to the power supply equipment between Clapham Junction and Wandsworth Common, three of the four lines through the area are now open and engineers are working hard to complete repairs as quickly and safely as possible.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">A crowd control system will be in place for <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/SouthernRailUK" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-55726-https://twitter.com/SouthernRailUK" data-vars-event-id="c23">@SouthernRailUK</a> services from <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/NetworkRailVIC" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-55726-https://twitter.com/NetworkRailVIC" data-vars-event-id="c23">@NetworkRailVIC</a> this evening and certain entrances may close— London Victoria (@NetworkRailVIC) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/NetworkRailVIC/status/593774252131807232" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-55726-https://twitter.com/NetworkRailVIC/status/593774252131807232" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 30, 2015</a>
"Services will continue to be disrupted while repairs are completed and major disruption to Southern services to and from Victoria can be expected this evening. Southern services to and from London Bridge will also be impacted.
"At Victoria station the entrance onto Buckingham Palace Road may be closed and the whole of the station is likely to be very busy with a queuing system in place for services on platforms 15-19. Other platforms will be busier than usual.
"Please check before travelling by visiting southernrailway.com or nationalrail.co.uk, or following @SouthernRailUK or @NRE_Southern on Twitter.
"Passengers can use London Underground, London Bus, London Tramlink, South West Trains, Southeastern and Thameslink services to complete their journey.
"If possible, passengers are advised to consider starting their journeys either earlier or later than normal for a better journey home."
