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Tens of thousands of rail commuters and long-distance passengers face chaos on the UK’s premier route, the East Coast Main Line – which connects London King’s Cross with Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland.

All trains were stopped while a fire near the railway at Stevenage was put out. But even though the blaze has now been extinguished, it caused “significant damage” to signalling equipment.

National Rail told northbound commuters heading home from the capital: “At present, the vast majority of services have been cancelled.”

Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs commuter services, told passengers: “Please do not travel. Great Northern and Thameslink services are unable to run until further notice through the Stevenage area and across the Great Northern network.”

LNER, the main intercity operator on the line, said: “Only a limited number of trains will be able to run for the rest of the day.

“Trains which are running are likely to be delayed and extremely busy.

“We strongly advise you to avoid travelling today if you can.

“Some trains are running, but there is major disruption, and you may be heavily delayed and/or experience severe overcrowding.

“If you have a LNER train ticket dated for today, Wednesday 9 October, you will be able to use your existing ticket on another LNER service tomorrow.”

Mutual ticket acceptance has been organised for LNER passengers to use:

The company says: “Other routes are also expected to be extremely busy this evening and it may not be possible to get a seat if you are travelling with an alternative operator.”

Trains are expected to be running normally on Thursday 10 October.

Passengers in Yorkshire face uncertainty on journeys between Leeds and York after reports of an unexploded wartime bomb near the railway in the Cross Gates area of eastern Leeds. The intercity operator TransPennine Express said: “Train services between Leeds and York will be cancelled, delayed or diverted via Castleford.”

To add to commuters’ woes, the lines from Moorgate in the City of London to Finsbury Park and stations in Hertfordshire were closed for a time in the evening rush hour due to “a failure of the electricity supply”.

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