RAIL passengers have faced misery over the past seven days with a signal fault at Oxford and a broken-down train at Didcot Parkway among the problems which have caused lengthy delays.

Commuters complained yesterday of a ‘nightmare’ getting into London with delays of 40 minutes from Oxford.

Lee Bellion tweeted that Wednesday marked the third day of problems on the line, adding: “This has been the worst week ever.”

There were also delays at Didcot Parkway first thing yesterday due to a broken-down train, with delays of up to 30 minutes until around 8am.

A signal fault on Friday meant all lines had to be closed during peak morning hours at Oxford Station.

Explaining yesterday’s problem, a Network Rail spokesperson said: "Owing to a significant track defect near Acton, train services have been affected in and out of London Paddington."

They said ‘safety was the priority’ and engineers had worked ‘around the clock’ to fix the issue, reopening the line later that morning, adding: “We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused.”

A Chiltern Railways spokesperson said the company ‘regretted’ recent delays.

They said: "Delays in the Oxford area in the last seven days have been caused by issues with Network Rail infrastructure including signal failures and a track circuit failure at Tackley [yesterday] morning.

"Chiltern Railways share passengers’ frustration when delays occur because of infrastructure issues outside of our control and we continue to work with Network Rail and industry partners to address these issues and their effect on passengers."