Travellers faced delays of over an hour when all train services were halted after a signal failure at High Wycombe railway station.

The disruption began at around 4pm on Wednesday, October 23, when Chiltern Railways warned customers of a “points failure” on the Wycombe line, meaning the equipment allowing trains to switch tracks had stopped working properly.

The railway company then confirmed that all lines on its network had been blocked, leaving passengers going to and from Wycombe and London frustrated by delays of over an hour.

Chiltern Railways said the scheduled services were unlikely to resume until after 6:30pm, with delays of up to 90 minutes expected thereafter.

Discontented passengers took to social media to accuse the firm of “shocking” service for “limited communication” about the network-wide delays, with slower-than-usual speeds observed for the rest of the evening after the points failure impacted the signalling system.

Tickets were accepted on alternative providers including Great Western Railways and Avanti West Coast trains and a Chiltern Railways spokesperson said they were “sorry for the delay to journeys” and urged customers made to wait 15 minutes or more to seek compensation at https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/delayrepay15.