HST fire in rear power car, near Burnham - 26/27 July 2017

[whole diary]

[bobm]

From South Central Ambulance service's Twitter Feed

https://twitter.com/SCAS_HART/status/890368128621961216

Train involved was the 20:29 from Swansea to London Paddington which came to a stand near Burnham with a fire in the rear power car just after 11pm.  Passengers were eventually evacuated from the train at Slough after 2am and taken to London on the 21:29 from Taunton which arrived into Paddington at 3.30am - nearly three hours late.

[ChrisB]

I hope onward taxis were provided at that time of night....

[chrisr_75]

Wonder why it took so long to take people off - the severity of the damage surely must've been clear quite rapidly, so a 3 hour delay seems a bit much? Seems an awful long time and I'm frankly surprised people didn't end up using the emergency releases on the doors...

[ChrisB]

The report was that all pax^▸ (passengers) had been ushered by the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) away from the rear of the train, so my guess is that they were all in one/two coaches, and probably talking to each other & TM?

Depends how long it took to put the fire out I guess - they wouldn't be able to move the train uintil the incident commander gave the all clear that it was out. And only then could control take a final decision as to where to move to/arrangements for onward travel.

[LiskeardRich]

Wonder why it took so long to take people off - the severity of the damage surely must've been clear quite rapidly, so a 3 hour delay seems a bit much?

It is safest to remain on the train. A good TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) would communicate as such. If they couldn't get people safely onto another service until 2 am it is best to keep them on the train rather than the platform. It won't have been a busy service. Get them all to the opposite end of the train, presumably first class direction, near to buffet. Supply some drinks biscuits etc. The fire brigade won't want people getting in their way!

[Electric train]

The last incident 9th Sept 1995 near Maidenhead resulted in the death of a passenger who had left the train and was hit by a train on an adjacent line.

It takes time to secure the railway as safe to go onto it to effect an emergency disembarkation, the emergency services will not go onto the line until they are assured the trains have been stopped and the traction current discharged. The signaller will not say its safe until they have contacted all the drivers on the approach to the area and advised them of the situation, the ECR will give clear instructions to the Fire Brigade control "The overhead line has been discharged, it is safe to approach but not to touch"

This all takes time 

[ellendune]

I remember it well I got on that train - decided I did not want to stand all the way to Reading and waited for the next, which duly got stuck behind it.  I got home in the early hours of the morning.

The problem then was that the fuel tank fell off IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly').  They briefly opened the line then someone asked why the fuel tank fell of and whether it was a terrorist incident and it all shut down again for a few hours.