FANS heading to Wimbledon this morning were faced with significant delays due to severe issues on the District Line.
SunSport was told by TfL staff on the ground that delays were caused by a signal issue, with engineers on the track attempting to fix the problem and trains stuck between Parsons Green and Wimbledon.
Southfields is the closest station to the All England Club, with several thousand fans travelling there during each day of the tournament thus far.
In addition to Southfields, the District Line also stops at Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon.
The signal failure is believed to have occurred at Putney Bridge.
Around 42,000 fans attend the Championships each day during the first week of the tournament.
The All England Club want to increase this number to 50,000 by expanding the grounds onto the former golf club that it has already acquired.
These plans would include the construction of a new 8,000-seater show court, and would cost an estimated £200million.
The Club received planning permission last September, but this is subject to a judicial review set to begin tomorrow.
The Save Wimbledon Park group claim that the decision was unlawful and that the expansion would be bad for the environment.
Play was scheduled to begin on the outside courts at 11am this morning, with fans facing a rush to make it in time.
No2 Court commenced with former finalist Marin Cilic taking on 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli.
While British pair Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash opened No3 Court with their men’s doubles clash against Marcel Demoliner and Guido Andreozzi.
Last Tuesday, a fire alert at Southfields saw the District Line grind to a halt.
The issue caused “severe delays” with “no service” on much of the track.
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