Passengers across south London have been left frustrated this week after a number of train services were either cancelled or delayed.

Govia Thameslink Railway, the company managing Southern Rail, had more than 100,000 cancellations last year.

Southern Rail told Sutton Guardian that disruptions this week were firstly caused when engineering work overran on Monday morning on the Thameslink.

A grass fire then broke out next to the track near Coulsdon forcing the Brighton Mainline to close for two hours causing disruptions during the evening peak.

Because of the high temperatures, rails also buckled in the heat in two places.

As for yesterday’s disruptions, Southern Rail said: “A rail defect was found at Purley Oaks and both Thameslink and Southern services on the Brighton Main Line were severely affected while Network Rail attended to the problem.

“Later in the day, a track defect was reported on the Brighton bound line near Preston Park. As a result, train services were unable to operate Southbound between Burgess Hill and Preston Park.

“Network Rail who own and maintain the infrastructure and track on which we run our trains went to site to investigate and repair the problem, which meant that one of the two tracks through the station had to be closed temporarily.”

They added that high temperatures have meant speed restrictions have been necessary.

Despite an unsettled week, Southern Rail say that their network has seen improvements in 2017.

A spokesperson told Sutton Guardian: "Service levels on the Southern network have improved for six consecutive months since December.

"We are modernising and future-proofing the busiest part of the UK's network for passengers, whose numbers, to and from London, have doubled in 12 years.”

They added that there will be extensive infrastructure rebuilding and upgrades with new trains and technologies being introduced.

Admittedly they said they are still in “transition” but stated that they are seeing “performance improvements”.