Road and rail travellers endured another bleak mid-winter morning rush-hour today.
Flooded highways and rail lines, over-running engineering work and train staff unavailability all added to the gloom of a dark, wet, late-December journey to work.
Passengers travelling with the Southeastern train company suffered a double whammy of ill fortune.
First, services were disrupted due to the late finish of engineering work between Sole Street and Rochester in Kent.
Then, train crew unavailability led to problems for early-morning Southeastern travellers.
The Rochester work meant diversions and alterations, while buses had to replace trains between Meopham, Sole Street and Strood.
Passengers with East Midlands Trains and Greater Anglia also suffered today after a signalling problem led to delays of up to 60 minutes to rush-hour trains travelling through Norwich.
In the north of England, another signalling problem - this one caused by vandalism - at Hough Green in Cheshire led to delays between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road via Birchwood.
The disruption was expected to last until around 1.30pm.
First TransPennine Express and East Midlands Trains were providing buses to take passengers between Birchwood and Newton-Le-Willows.
A freight train derailment yesterday at Barrow-upon-Soar in the East Midlands continued to cause disruption today.
Trains were unable to call at Barrow-upon-Soar, and buses were running between Loughborough and Barrow-upon-Soar to connect with trains
Trains between East Midlands Parkway and Leicester/Peterborough were likely to be delayed.
Flooding continued to impact on West Country services, although the line between Exeter St Davids and Tiverton Parkway was expected to reopen some time today.
But a number of routes in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Bristol area were still being disrupted due to flooding.
