HAMPSHIRE commuters are facing major delays this afternoon after the rails warped in soaring temperatures.

Emergency engineering work is being carried out on a track that had buckled under heat at Waterloo Station earlier this afternoon.

As a result, four platforms at Waterloo are not currently in use causing delays at the station, which will have an effect on commuters returning to Hampshire from the capital.

Train services in and out of the station are subject to cancellation and delays of up to 30 minutes.

The disruption is expected to continue until the end of service today.

Because of this, the following changes will apply until further notice:

· Trains between London Waterloo and Dorking are cancelled. Customers should travel on Southern services between London Victoria and Dorking.

· A train shuttle service is in operation between Hampton Court and Surbiton. Passengers will need to change trains at Surbiton

· Services that run from London Waterloo at 50 minutes past each hour to Salisbury / Yeovil Junction / Gillingham are not running between Waterloo and Basingstoke.

· Customers travelling from London Waterloo / Woking will need change trains at Basingstoke or travel on services to Exeter St Davids departing London Waterloo at 20 minutes past each hour

· Some services heading towards London Waterloo may be cancelled before they reach Waterloo in order to ease congestion at the station.

· Other services may be delayed by up to 30 minutes Passengers may use Southern services between London Victoria and Dorking and London Underground District Line services.

A spokeswoman for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said: "We would like to apologise for the disruption our customers will face on their journeys home tonight. As a result of emergency engineering work to fix a track defect, we are unable to use four platforms at Waterloo which is having a serious impact on the services we can deliver. Because of that we will have to run an amended timetable for the rest of the day.

"Safety is our absolute priority. We have no choice but to make sure these repairs are carried out before we can restore train services on these lines.

“We expect to run a normal service from tomorrow morning.”