Travel chaos as flights are cancelled at City and Heathrow airports (2024)

Noora Mykkanen

The M62 motorway – a major route carrying around 120,000 vehicles daily – closes tonight and over the weekend.

It is the first of two major weekend closures on the M62.

Read more about why it is closing and how to avoid it.

Noora Mykkanen

As the Friday rush hour is getting closer, commuters are hoping for it to go smoothly.

However, there might be delays along the way if you’re travelling on the District line on the London Underground.

Part of the line is suspended between Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon.

Severe delays are also hampering travel between High Street Kensington and Wimbledon Park.

The rest of the line has good service, the latest TfL travel alert shows.

Katie Boyden

‘At around 11.30am we received a report that a freight train had come off the tracks at low speed near Denton.

‘The train was carrying aggregates and was headed for Manchester Hope Street.

‘There were no injuries and the driver is safe.

‘This is a freight only line and the area will remain blocked until the train can be moved.

‘Freight trains that are scheduled to be using this route will be diverted.

‘As a precaution, Sidmouth Street is closed for safety reasons.’

Katie Boyden

‘British Transport Police were called to the line near in Audenshaw just after 11.40am today following reports of a freight train derailment.

‘Thankfully no one was injured.

‘Officers remain at the scene and the line remains closed while the scene is being cleared and investigated.

‘Enquiries are ongoing.’

Katie Boyden

Katie Boyden

British Transport Police has now confirmed that a man was found dead on the railway line in the early hours of this morning.

Trains heading towards London St Pancras, Cannon Street and Charing Cross were cancelled or delayed throughout the morning.

Southeastern were only able to fully reopen the line at around 11am, with delays only clearing at around 1.30pm.

A BTP spokesperson said: ‘Detectives are appealing for witnesses to come forward following the death of a man on the railway.

‘Officers were called to the line near the Port of Dover at around 1.45am today to reports of a casualty on the tracks.

‘Paramedics also attended, however sadly a person was pronounced dead at the scene.

‘Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circ*mstances leading up to their death, and detectives are urging anyone with information or who may have witnessed something to come forward.’

Noora Mykkanen

Residents in Audenshaw outside Manchester were left thinking they were hit by an earthquake after their houses ‘began to shake,’ eyewitnesses have said.

The emergency services rushed to the scene on Sidmouth Street in Audenshaw, Tameside, just before midday after reports of a derailed train.

It is thought to be a non-passenger train.

One onlooker described the frightening incident: ‘I was on a work call and heard an enormous scraping as the whole house began to shake. Spoke with neighbours closer to the line who noted pictures falling from the walls – everyone thought we were having an earthquake.’

We approached Network Rail and British Transport Police for a comment.

Noora Mykkanen

The A303 has closed westbound near Basingstoke after a crash involving multiple vehicles.

It happened between A30 (Basingstoke) and A34 (Lower Bullington), and now all lanes westbound are shut.

Emergency services are on the scene, National Highways said.

Noora Mykkanen

Brace for problems if you’re travelling on the Southeastern in Kent today – there are several issues affecting the network today.

Here are the affected routes and what’s going on.

Canterbury East

• No trains between Dover Priory and Faversham due to an emergency incident near Canterbury East
• Replacement buses are being sourced

Maidstone East line

• Broken down train between Charing and Ashford International means the line between Asford and Oftord/Maidstone East is blocked until a rescue train can clear the railway
• This is disrupting trains through Maidstone East
• Passengers can use their tickets on the highspeed services

Hastings line

• An earlier broken-down train at Etchingham is still causing cancellations to trains between Hastings and London Charing Cross

Noora Mykkanen

Passengers travelling between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 4 have been warned of delays and cancellations after a defective track on the route.

It means trains are forced to run slower, causing delays of up to 10 minutes or cancellations of some trains.

Disruption is expected until 12.30, National Rail estimated.

The defective track was spotted between the Acton Main line and Paddington.

• Affected route – Elizabeth line between Heathrow Terminal 4 and Abbey Wood

Noora Mykkanen

Hundreds of British Airways passengers woke up to find their flights cancelled from Heathrow today.

BA has axed several flights while others were delayed.

We approached British Airways for a comment.

Here are the flights that appeared as cancelled on the airport departure board.

British Airways BA472 at 6.15am to Barcelona

British Airways BA1382 at 6.45am to Manchester

British Airways BA304 at 6.55am to Paris

British Airways BA776 at 7.05am to Stockholm

British Airways BA762 at 7.45am to Oslo

British Airways BA392 at 7.55am to Brussels

British Airways BA886 at 9.25am to Bucharest

British Airways BA842 at 9.45am to Split

British Airways BA862 at 10.10am to Prague

British Airways BA574 at 10.25am to Milan

British Airways BA336 at 11am to Marseille

British Airways BA938 at 11.10am to Dusseldorf

British Airways BA730 at 11.25am to Geneva

British Airways BA662 at 11.30am to Larnaca

British Airways BA344 at 11.40am to Nice

British Airways BA1308 at 12.10pm to Aberdeen

British Airways BA816 at 12.30pm to Copenhagen

Have you been affected? Please email noora.mykkanen@metro.co.uk.

Katie Boyden

There is slow-moving traffic and one lane closed on the M25 due to flooding on the carriageway.

The flooding is located on the clockwise carriageway between junction 11 for Chertsey to junction 12 for the M3.

Katie Boyden

Southeastern Railway has been forced to close the line between Dover Priory and Folkestone Central due to a police incident.

Services between Ramsgate and Dover and between Dover and Ashford International have been cancelled, which will affect services heading into London St Pancras, Charing Cross and Cannon Street.

There are replacement buses running between Dover and Folkestone.

There currently aren’t any details about the nature of the police incident, but Southeastern warn they expect disruption to last until around midday.

Katie Boyden

Part of the M62 will be closed over the weekend so a new £22million railway bridge can be installed.

It’ll be closed in both directions between Manchester and Leeds from 9pm tonight until 6am on Monday.

The westbound carriageway will be shut between junction 20 at Rochdale and junction 19 at Heywood.

Eastbound traffic will be stopped from junction 18 at Simister Island to junction 20 at Rochdale.

There’ll be another closure between September 20-23.

Katie Boyden

Following a two-vehicle crash last night, National Highways are having to resurface part of the M1.

The crash happened on the northbound carriageway between junction 9 for Redbourn and 10 for Luton in Hertfordshire.

Two lanes are still closed and drivers can expect delays in the area.

This picture shows exactly why the repairs needed to be done as soon as possible.

Katie Boyden

There are currently minor delays across the Victoria line due to a signal failure at Finsbury Park.

Aside from the ongoing delays to Tramlink services mentioned below, the rest of the TfL network has good service this morning.

Katie Boyden

There are currently delays between Wellesley Road and Sandilands on the Tram network this morning, due to a broken down bus at Lebanon Road.

The line had been part suspended while the bus was moved out of the way, but it has since reopened.

There is currently good service on all other Tramlink routes, TfL says.