COMMUTERS have been warned First Great Western services remain badly affected through the evening rush-hour because of the signal problem near Slough.

Trains into London Paddington have been cancelled or severely delayed all day after overnight engineering work damaged signal equipment between Slough and West Drayton. It has affected all four rail lines.

Tickets bought for today will be valid for travel tomorrow, the rail company has confirmed.

First Great Western had been hoping the problem would be fixed by 4pm, but has said that disruption will continue until further notice.

The company said: "Signalling equipment problems between Slough and West Drayton are affecting all lines to and from London Paddington, and First Great Western is experiencing severe disruption.

"Engineers have been working all day to rectify the fault, but have so far been unsuccessful. 

"At present we are only able to run five trains per hour in each direction Reading and London Paddington- two 'fast' trains and three 'stopping' trains."

Tickets for your usual service into Paddington are being accepted on what the company calls other acceptable routes into the capital.

First Great Western said that there are now delays of up to 30 minutes affecting those services that could run. 

Updates will be posted automatically here on our Live Travel Service.

Commuters were also facing delays due to a tree on the line on the line between Moreton-in-Marsh and Charlbury.

Out the 'other end' of the First Great Western system, the Oxford-bound line was blocked at Kingham by a fallen tree. Services were delayed by about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, the A4074 down at Woodcote was shut from 2am following a fatalcrash involving a motorcyclist.

The road re-opened about 8am.

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