Travel Chaos As London Stations Close

Thousands of passengers have endured major rail disruption after London King's Cross station was closed due to overrunning engineering works.

Paddington was also shut for several hours on Saturday after Network Rail failed to complete engineering works on time.

The King's Cross closure forced East Coast and Thameslink & Great Northern passengers to start or end their journey at Finsbury Park in north London.

Passengers at Finsbury Park complained of being "locked in" at the station due to overcrowding.

"Apparently we can't leave the station because too many people are trying to get in to get on the train we just got off! Mexican standoff!" wrote Dean Pugh on Twitter.

Other passengers were left waiting for hours even after the station reopened.

Passenger @missakis said on Twitter: "It's an absolute nightmare here. No information, except woman with mouse like voice. Nobody can hear her. Crowd is massive."

National Rail was forced to temporarily close the station on police advice "due to overcrowding" - prompting delays around the country.

Pressure is now growing on the organisation after the railway watchdog, the Office of Rail Regulation, said it was launching an investigation into the chaos.

"Network Rail, working with the rest of the industry, must learn lessons and prevent problems like this happening again," it said in a statement.

The Department for Transport said it was "extremely disappointed" and had contacted Network Rail to demand an explanation.

The disruption comes as thousands of people are travelling following the Christmas break.

Network Rail told Sky News 11,000 engineers were working around the country to expand the network and that things went "very badly wrong" at two sites.

Director of operations Robin Gisby said: "It's been a very difficult time for passengers, queuing for two or three hours to get away. That has settled down now.

"It's a very difficult balance between trying to run a service and trying to expand the railway. Now is the least worse time to do it compared with the time when people are going to work.

"I can only apologise - I've seen today just how difficult it has been and we'll look again at our planning and contingency.

"The only alternative is to shut the railway for longer to get the work done."

A reduced service to and from King's Cross will go ahead as planned on Sunday, with trains leaving up to 20 minutes earlier than normal.

East Coast Trains - which serves Peterborough, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen - said tickets for Saturday would be valid on Sunday and Monday, and that passengers affected for 30 minutes or more could apply for compensation .

First Great Western - which runs to and from cities such as Cardiff, Exeter and Oxford - said tickets for Saturday would be valid for Sunday, or passengers could ask for an abandoned journey refund .