Strand gas leak: Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations reopen but commuters face further disruption

The Strand in central London has reopened after a gas leak led to the closure of two major commuter hubs and the evacuation of about 1,500 people.

Charing Cross and Waterloo East rail stations have now reopened but commuters were warned of knock on delays throughout Tuesday afternoon.

Commuters faced chaos in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a gas leak in the West End caused overcrowding and delays at key transport hubs.

Up to 1,500 people were evacuated from the world famous Heaven nightclub, a hotel and nearby buildings and a 100-metre exclusion zone was put up around the Strand at 3am while engineers worked to fix the leak.

A Network Rail spokesperson said on Tuesday afternoon: “Having received the all-clear from the emergency services, we’ve now reopened Charing Cross and Waterloo East stations and are working with Southeastern to get services back up and running as quickly as possible.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding while this incident was dealt with."

Southeastern said delays would remain over the next few hours.

Knock-on effects caused overcrowding at King's Cross during the Tuesday morning rush hour with the station forced to close temporarily.

Crowd-control measures were also deployed at London Bridge, with services to Victoria, Cannon Street and Blackfriars expected to be disrupted all day.

A Southeastern spokesperson said: "We thank our passengers for their patience who faced delays and cancellations this morning due to a gas leak near Charing Cross station.

"Waterloo East and Charing Cross stations have now reopened.

“However, there may still be a few delays over the next few hours. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and advise passengers to check before they travel by visiting our website, downloading our free travel app 'On Track' or visiting National Rail."