London Underground passengers forced to WALK through tunnels from their broken down train causing two-hour delays
Commuters had to make their way through dark tunnels to get out
PASSENGERS on a packed Tube train were stuck underground were forced to flee the broken down train - by walking through the TUNNELS.
Roughly 350 passengers were trapped inside the peak-time train on Tuesday evening for 40 minutes before train crews and police led them in single file back to a train platform.
People seen above at the end of their walk, climbing into another tube to get onto the platform at Shepherds Bush
TV director Peter Chipping was on-board the packed Central Line train and captured the tense moments on video as he and other passengers waited in darkness following a signal failure.
The 48-year-old described the worrying moments as people flapped paper in their faces and tried to keep calm in the thin, warm, air.
Peter said: "It was a full train, rammed full.
"The driver had to go all the way through the train to see if he could reverse the train to back to the station but found that he couldn't.
"It started getting very warm and lots of people were flapping bits of paper.
"People were getting quite panicky at the beginning, we were thinking 'oh Christ, what's happening?'
"But Tfl were cool calm and collected and there was police down there too.
"There was a dog called Trouble who was doing tricks to keep everyone calm.
"At first we were all thinking 'oh Christ, what's happening' but the driver kept us updated.
"It was like a very hot close summer's day. The air was getting very thin and while the internal doors were opened, there was no air coming in."
After 40 minutes of waiting the passengers were evacuated from the train and made to walk, single file, in the darkness towards Shepherd's Bush station, west London.
For 20 minutes Peter and his fellow passengers walked in the dark until they reached a bottleneck where train crews had created a short ramp.
RELATED STORIES
Eventually the crowd walked through another stuck train closer to the platform before making their way onto the platform and outside into fresh air outside Shepherd's Bush station.
Londoner Peter added: "We were all worried about the live wires at first.
"It was an orderly procession, but it was very hot.
"That gave it a certain cause for concern. It wasn't so much the heat but the lack of air.
"We were on the train for around 40 minutes and then spent about 20 minutes or so walking.
"They had to put lots of boarding on the tracks to allow us to walk on there during the last 200 yards or so.
"We must have been walking for about 20 minutes. Everyone was going quite slowly and we had to walk in single file and we had to slow down at the bottle neck at the end because they put these boards down.
"They were only letting ten people walk along the ramp each time and then we boarded another tube train to get out.
"If anything had happened like a fire or anything there was nothing that they could have done because of this bottleneck at the end.
"Tfl did everything they could, all things considering they did a good job. The police were down there as well and they gave us water bottles when we finally got onto the platform.
"This was at peak time, there were a lot of trains backed up."
The line reopened shortly after the evacuation.
Peter McNaught, Operations Director for the Central line, said: "I apologise to customers affected by the disruption on the Central line yesterday evening.
"An eastbound train was halted just outside Shepherd’s Bush station just after 6pm because of a faulty rail.
"Passengers were taken off the train and led along the track to the station by our staff. This was done safely although it was obviously an unpleasant experience for our customers.
"A thorough investigation is being carried out and we are refunding all those affected by the disruption."
Disruption continued for people using the Central line this morning as a person was hit by a train at Stratford.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368
