UK Buckling, Passengers Forced to Walk the Rails After Heat Disables Train
Footage shared on social media showed train passengers in the United Kingdom walking down the rails after high temperatures disabled their locomotive.
The incident occurred at around 6 p.m. Tuesday — considered 2022’s hottest day in the U.K., according to The Independent. The passengers had been traveling from London’s Stansted airport on the Stansted Express.
Greater Anglia, the rail company that runs the train, said that the train’s breakdown was due to issues with the power supply caused by the high temperatures going up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Greater Anglia had previously warned passengers not to travel, according to The Independent.
A 35-year-old passenger identified as Gloria told The Sun that at the time of the breakdown, “The lights went off, the air-con went off, the lights by the doors went off.”
Gloria had flown into Stansted from Madeira, Portugal, when she boarded the train.
“They were trying to get the train back on for 20-25 minutes before they told us we were going to have to get off,” she said.
“They told us a bus would be coming to get us, but after the whole journey from getting on the train to getting home was approaching five hours, we decided to spend another £40 [$48] on a taxi.”
“This was an expense we weren’t expecting,” Gloria said.
Those on the train had to leave the carriages through the driver’s cabin since the electronic issue left the carriage doors locked, The Sun reported.
Police helped passengers walk down the tracks with their baggage en route to Broxbourne Station.
Since the promised buses were late, many opted to go home by taxi at the station, the outlet reported.
“People who traveled on this train are entitled to delay repay compensation, and we would encourage them to contact us direct,” Greater Anglia said, according to The Sun.
Britain, in recent weeks, has experienced record high temperatures going over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures have triggered wildfires and damaged train tracks.
Thirteen individuals died after “getting into difficulty in rivers, reservoirs and lakes while swimming in recent days — seven of them teenage boys,” Member of Parliament Kit Malthouse said in parliament Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The temperatures have also given rise to fresh calls for tackling climate change.
“The sad reality is this is what the future for London and the UK is likely to look like if we don’t take strong action now on the climate crisis,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
“This is a reminder today, I think, of the importance of tackling climate change because this is a remarkable unprecedented event,” British Treasury Minister Simon Clarke said.
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