'Will I get to work?' Trespassers, faulty lines and signals cause chaos for furious train passengers

Delayed passengers vented their frustration on social media, complaining to rail companies as their journeys became almost impossible on public transport today.

This morning there were trespassers near Birmingham New Street causing delays across the network, throwing passengers' plans into disarray.

Sean tweeted at West Midlands Railway this evening: "What's today's excuses for the awful cross-city line service?

"Another day when your service makes me late for work, I even left early."

West Midlands Railway responded: "Hi Sean, unfortunately there was a trespass incident this morning at New St, and a fault on a train this evening."

Trains in and out of Wolverhampton were delayed and cancelled this afternoon, after children trespassing on the line near Dudley Port forced trains both ways to stop causing subsequent services to be delayed, affecting journeys across the country.

The Manchester to Bournemouth train was forced to stop at Tipton station due to the children taking their lives in their hands by playing on the line.

One passenger said: "The train was running late anyway, if we had left on time then we might have made it past Dudley Port before the trespassers were reported. We were less than half a mile from Dudley Port when we stopped.

"The conductor kept on giving us updates, which told us there was no information besides children are on the line and British Transport Police were on their way."

Cathy Hunsley asked Cross Country Trains on X, formerly Twitter, where her train was, she said: "Why is your Manchester to Paignton train delayed at Wolverhampton please? And when do you expect it to be on the move to Birmingham?"

Cross Country replied: "Due to trespassers on the railway between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street all lines are blocked and that's causing the delay today. We will be on the move when we get the green light."

The Cross City Line, which runs from Bromsgrove and Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham was again beset by cancellations and delays, not for the first time this week.

Alexander Brock asked West Midlands Railway: "Any reason there’s delays on the cross-city line for the third day in a row?"

Passengers at Birmingham New Street were unable to get off one of the line's new trains due to a "technical fault with the doors".

John Ellis posted a picture of his app which showed six trains between 4.30pm and 6.30pm cancelled towards Four Oaks and Lichfield and complained he had not received the refunds from previous delays and cancellations.

He asked West Midlands Railway: "Can you have a word with your Delay Repay team? This is insulting after experiencing the absolute shambles that was last nights commute!"

West Midlands Railway responded: "I do apologise for the cancellations this evening. Unfortunately, this was due to a fault on a train."

This morning commuters on the Hereford line were faced with delays due to a new signal failing to work.

West Midlands Railway tweeted: "Fault with signalling system at Hereford.

"The line is currently closed. Services may be cancelled or delayed."

Fed-up worker Antoine Yaakov tweeted: "After spending three hours to get back home from work at Longbridge to Malvern.

"I'd like to know, where is the 10.15 train from Malvern Link to get me to Bromsgrove? Is it going to take me three hours to get to work?"