TRAINS across Dorset are delayed as emergency engineering work is being carried out.

South West Trains in and out of Waterloo may be delayed by 30 minutes or cancelled and passengers are advised to find alternative transport where possible.

A spokeswoman for the service said the problems at Waterloo Station were caused by the recent hot weather.

The delays are expected to last for the rest of the day and passengers can check for the latest updates by following @SW_Trains on Twitter.

A spokeswoman for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said: "We would like to apologise for the disruption our customers will face on their journeys home tonight.

"As a result of emergency engineering work to fix a track defect, we are unable to use four platforms at Waterloo which is having a serious impact on the services we can deliver.

"Because of that we will have to run an amended timetable for the rest of the day."

She added: "Safety is our absolute priority. We have no choice but to make sure these repairs are carried out before we can restore train services on these lines.

"We expect to run a normal service from tomorrow morning. We would like to apologise again to our customers for this and thank them for their patience.

"Service updates are available on our website and via our Twitter feed and we have extra staff at stations to help provide information to our passengers."