Hello, this is Simon Calder with today's independent travel podcast coming to you this time from the

mezzanine overlooking the concourse at London-Euston Station and we're here for another round of

railway roulette. About 10 minutes ago there was a great groan that went up at 22 minutes past five because the 23 minutes past five to Milton Keynes was cancelled.

I would like about now to be bringing you news of the departure of a train from London to Scotland.

But unfortunately the 530 departure is now simply showing as delayed. That was going to be

going all the way to Glasgow Central. Down the road from here at King's Cross Station, the East Coast

mainline from London to Peterborough, Yorkshire, North East England and Scotland.

That is finally reopened, but my goodness, what a day it has been.

Of course, the problem yesterday was excessive heats.

We were particularly concerned about the possibilities of rails buckling.

That didn't happen, I'm very glad to say, and it would have

been, obviously, perhaps even worse if that had happened. But what we got, particularly in the

evening yesterday, was a whole number of lineside fires, and that affected the signaling, and it

affected overhead wires.

And network rail engineers have been out and about pretty much all day,

well, and indeed all night trying to sort that out.

But clearly things are proving tricky.

And here we've even got one of the cancellations, many of them on the board, was due to train crew shortage, which is a whole new dimension, although that might simply be that the driver and the other staff are miles away from where they need to be because of earlier cancellations.

It was pretty grim along at Kings Cross earlier today.

I turned up to see the 5.45am Lumo service to Edinburgh and depart.

Of course, it didn't.

And all the people I talked to in the few hours after services were due to start.

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