Tube fault delays thousands after ceremony rehearsal

Transport for London (TfL) has apologised after people leaving a rehearsal for the Olympics opening ceremony were delayed getting home because the Central Line was partly suspended.

There were no trains on Monday from about 19:00 BST between Bethnal Green and White City after a problem with the track at St Paul's, said TfL.

Services were also suspended for more than four hours on the Overground.

TfL said alternatives were available.

More than 60,000 people attended the technical dress rehearsal for Friday's ceremony.

But the fault on the London Underground, caused by a train moving a power rail, led to major disruption.

In total 15 stations on the route - including key central London stations in the West End, and Bank, St Paul's and Liverpool Street in east London - were affected.

Many people took to Twitter with their frustrations.

Peterwalker99 tweeted: "Queue at Stratford Int'l. I'm quite possibly not going to get home tonight."

JulesMattson wrote: "TFL advice on the central line is literally 'AVOID THE LINE', not like it does anything important for an event or anything."

The line closed at about 01:00 BST with the fault still unfixed.

It fully reopened earlier at about 05:00 BST said a spokesman.

Services were also suspended on the Overground line between Hackney Wick and Homerton, from 17:20 to 21:30 BST.

A TfL spokesman said: "We apologise to any customers whose journeys were disrupted.

"There are 10 rail, Tube and DLR lines serving Stratford and the Olympic Park.

"Customers used the Jubilee, DLR, London Overground and national rail lines from Stratford, as well as District and Hammersmith & City lines from West Ham.

"There is plenty of capacity."

Meanwhile, Locog said the technical rehearsal went very well.

A statement said: "The reaction from the attendees has been overwhelmingly positive on social media and crucially they are still helping us to save the surprise for the rest of the nation on Friday."

The hashtag "#savethesurprise" was also emblazoned on giant screens inside the Olympic Stadium, according to people at the event, before trending globally on Twitter.