Blues fans warned of major train disruption

Birmingham City fans encountered major train disruption after a signal fault occurred while many headed to London.

Railway lines between Banbury and Leamington Spa were blocked by a signalling issue which started at about 10:00 BST on Sunday.

More than 40,000 fans had been expected to travel to Wembley Stadium as the team took on Peterborough in the final of the Vertu Trophy.

National Rail said disruption was expected until 12:30 BST and trains could be delayed by up to an hour, revised or cancelled.

Chiltern Railways said other rail operators were accepting tickets, including Avanti West Coast, Cross Country and West Midlands Railway.

A user on X said that he could not board his London Northwestern Railway train to Euston on Sunday morning due to overcrowding.

The rail company apologised for the disruption and said it was running additional services where possible.

CrossCountry also warned of disruption for customers travelling on services between Banbury and Leamington Spa.

Chiltern planned to operate an enhanced service from Warwick Parkway to maximise the number of customers it could take, which meant trains would not call at a number of stations en route.

Three Chiltern services per hour were due to run from 09:00 BST to London Marylebone, with none calling at Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull, Dorridge, Lapworth, Hatton or Warwick for the entire day.

The operator is also running a limited rail replacement service from Leamington Spa, calling at Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway and Stratford-upon-Avon.

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) said more than 20 services would leave the region for London, including a number of additional trains, offering about 13,000 seats.

It said fans leaving from Stechford, Lea Hall and Marston Green should travel from Birmingham New Street where possible, as it was likely trains would be full when arriving from Birmingham.

The operator, as well as Avanti West Coast, runs services from Birmingham New Street to London Euston, after which fans can travel via the London Underground to the stadium.

Fans, including comedian Jasper Carrot, expressed their excitement for the cup final, which Birmingham last won in 1995.

Blues fan Chris Jay is travelling more than 4,000 miles from Atlanta, Georgia for the game.

He moved to America with his wife, Courtney Jay, in 2021 and said he had explained to her how "you don't get to Wembley very often being a Birmingham fan, so you do everything you can to get back".

On Saturday, the team became champions of League One after Wrexham failed to win their lunchtime game at Wigan.

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