‘It was like a sauna’: Overheating passengers abandon train stuck in tunnel and walk to platform along tracks

Passengers say conditions ‘felt like a sauna’ on board the stuck train

Passengers had to walk along the tracks after overhead powerlines failed (PA)

Passengers abandoned a train stuck in a tunnel at Birmingham New Street and walked along the tracks to the platform yesterday.

The West Midlands Railway train was travelling from Lichfield to New Street on Tuesday afternoon when it came to a halt after overhead powerlines became damaged by the extreme heat.

Passengers were stuck on board the train for over an hour before several of them decided to disembark and walk along the railway line to the platform.

The problems began at about 1pm, when overhead cables came crashing down after an ‘explosion’, Birmingham Live reports.

With the extremely high temperatures that day, passengers described conditions on the train similar to a sauna.

Others said they were “melting with no water”. Passengers eventually left the train and walked for about five minutes next to the tracks to reach the platform.

Conor Moloney, a passenger on the train, described conditions on board and later filmed as he left the carriage.

The 29-year-old said: “I heard a big bang and the train rocked then the power went out. It was scary.

“We all had to use torches on our phones to see. Was like a sauna on there – just really hot. I thought I was going to pass out. They gave us ice lollies and bottles of water afterwards.”

Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central route director, said: “As predicted the extreme temperatures have impacted our overhead cables which power trains and we’ve had to stop all trains at Birmingham New Street station.

“Please keep following our ‘do not travel’ message today as journeys are being severely impacted.

“We’re sorry to people impacted and we’re working as fast as we can to get things back up and running.”