Rugby fans hit by rail delays

Fans trying to reach London for today's rugby World Cup parade endured severely disrupted journeys on key rail routes.

Cable damage at Twyford in Berkshire led to delays and cancellations of services into the capital from the Thames Valley west of London.

The First Great Western, Thames Trains and Virgin CrossCountry companies were all hit by the disruption.

"We are only running around 50% of services between Reading (in Berkshire) and (London's) Paddington station as the cable damage has affected signalling and points systems," said a First Great Western spokeswoman.

To add to the problems, First Great Western rush-hour services this morning were also affected by a track circuit failure at Wootton Bassett Junction in Wiltshire which hit services in the Bristol and Swindon areas.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said today: "We sincerely apologise for the problems in the Twyford area and our staff are working without rest to put things right.

"We hope to have a near-normal service operating by the evening peak period."