Passengers stuck for hours on cold, dark trains following overhead cables fault
Train passengers have been left stranded in west London after a fault with overhead cables forced all services to stop.
Great Western Railway said disruption was expected on the London Paddington to Reading line until the end of the day.
TFL said there is no service between Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3 and Heathrow Terminal 5, while Network Rail repair damaged overhead power cables in the Paddington area.
Passengers can use their tickets on other London Underground routes, London buses, Thameslink, Southeastern railway, DLR, South Western Railway and Chiltern Railways via any reasonable route.
Commuters took to social media to share photos and videos of the dark carriages, with some passengers reporting to be have been stuck for hours.
Countdown star Rachel Riley posted a photo on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption: 'Nearly 4 hours after we got on, we’re getting off the Elizabeth line, woohoo!'
A Network Rail spokesperson said the overhead cables affected were in the Ladbroke Grove area.
The spokesperson said: “We’ve had to stop all services while our engineers work as fast as they can to fix the issue.
"Our teams are also working with train operators to assist people on the trains affected.
“We’d urge people onboard to follow all the advice from staff while this incident is ongoing.
“Anyone planning to travel tonight should check National Rail Enquiries for the latest on the disruption.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said in a post on X: “Aware of a serious incident involving overhead wires outside Paddington, with a number of trains stationary on the tracks.”
National rail, Elizabeth line and Heathrow Express services were all disrupted by the issue, Transport for London said.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We’re sorry that the damage caused to Network Rail’s overhead power lines by another rail operator’s train has caused significant disruption to our Elizabeth line customers as well as all train operators out of London Paddington.
"We worked to get customers off of stranded trains as quickly as possible and to provide any support needed.
"Network Rail are continuing to urgently to repair the power lines and we’d encourage all customers to check before they travel while they do this.”
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