Rachel Riley and James Blunt were among the commuters who got trapped on the tube for hours following a power fault.
Travellers on London’s new £19bn Elizabeth Line were left fuming after trains ground to a halt and were plunged into darkness near Paddington Station – with some even claiming people were forced to wee in the corner of carriages and on their seats. It was also said some commuters smashed their way out of the cold trains and walked down the tracks after being trapped for more than three hours.
You’re Beautiful singer James, 49, wrote on X/Twitter: “Been stuck somewhere outside Paddington for close to 4 hours now. Out of peanuts and wine.
“Can someone please contact @Dominos_UK. This is an emergency.”
The pizza chain’s social media team made light of the situation by referencing the singer’s big hit, replying: “Got a car packed with pizzas for you James. Our boot is full, it’s true.”
James replied: “Great. There’s just over a thousand of us.”
Eventually the commuters were evacuated from the trains, with Countdown star Rachel, 37, posting some selfies of her looking relieved as the ordeal came to an end.
As a caption, she wrote: “Nearly 4 hours after we got on, we’re getting off the Elizabeth line, woohoo!”
The TV star also posed for a selfie with a Transport for London (TfL) worker wearing a high-vis jacket. “This poor TfL guy has had quite the night,” she wrote alongside the picture.
Trains stopped running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport during rush hour on Thursday evening because of damage to overhead cables in the Ladbroke Grove area.
Several travellers headed for Heathrow ended up missing flights, it was reported. Meanwhile, two people were treated by paramedics for "minor" injuries at the scene.
One traveller caught up in the chaos reportedly compared the "surreal" passenger evacuation to something that "felt like a wartime thing".
According to the BBC, commuter Mikey Worrall said: "We saw a couple of workers come past, and they were trying to keep everyone calm. Suddenly, we saw a stream of people coming down the track, and at that point, it was clear that we would be getting off.
"It was really eerie walking down the railway line in amongst this big crowd of people. It felt like a wartime thing."
On Thursday night, 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.”
On Friday, a Network Rail spokesperson added: “We are so sorry for the difficult journeys passengers endured on our railway last night and we will be investigating how and why it happened. The knock-on effects from last night mean operators will not be able to run a full service from Paddington today (Friday) and passengers should check before they travel.
“Repairs are ongoing and we hope to have the railway fully open by the weekend.”
Source: Read Full Article