Trains in and out of Waterloo station have been cancelled or delayed after the hot weather led to a kink in the track, causing travel chaos for thousands of passengers.
South West Trains services to and from London Waterloo were hit at the height of Monday's evening rush hour on one of the hottest days of the year.
The disruption was caused by emergency engineering work outside Waterloo, and signalling problems near Haslemere in Surrey. Four platforms were out of action.
Photos posted by angry travellers on Twitter showed huge crowds massing on platforms.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "As with all metals, the steel which makes up our tracks expands and contracts depending on its temperature.
"The hotter it gets, the more it expands and just like a road or pavement on a warm day, the metal can reach temperatures far in excess of the surrounding air temperature.
"Whilst we carry out a significant amount of work to prepare for the impact of hot weather by using hydraulic machines to artificially stretch the rails to cope with high temperatures, we have seen temperatures on our tracks of almost 50C this week.
"The network in general has coped well, however the ageing condition of our infrastructure in some places means that, despite this preparation work, we have had to impose speed restrictions at certain locations to prevent damage to the track.
"These speed restrictions take into account changed driving conditions, similar to the limits put in place on roads across the country when conditions change."
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