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Passengers flee as 25,000-volt cable snaps at St Pancras
Felix Allen and Alison Richards24 Sep 2009
Passengers disembarking a Eurostar train were forced to flee in terror as a live overhead cable fell inches from them.
The high voltage cable collapsed as the 5.13pm train from Paris to London drew into platform nine at St Pancras International yesterday.
Travellers screamed as it snaked uncontrollably across the platform, showering sparks and narrowly missing them.
One passenger, Michael Stirling said: “I was just helping someone off the train with their bags when I heard this fizzling noise.
“Suddenly this huge cable snapped. It was snaking all over the platform. People were screaming and throwing themselves out of the way. It was obviously live because there was a continuous vibration and every time it touched the ground it was like a firework display. If it had touched anyone they would have been killed.”
Mr Stirling, 37, from north London, said he and other passengers fled the platform as soon as they could.
“I just crouched down behind the stairwell,” he said. “There were hundreds of people there. People were rushing towards the exit. I was worried because I didn't know if anyone got hurt.”
The fire brigade were called as engineers worked on shutting down the cable.
A spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said: “We attended at St Pancras platform 9 where a high voltage cable was short circuiting. It was dealt with by Network Rail engineers and declared safe at 7.14pm.” There were no injuries.
An investigation has been launched into how the cable, which provides the energy for the train, became dislodged.
Bram Smets, spokesman for Eurostar, said: “We had a catenary [wiring] problem after a cable came loose. No one was hurt. Engineers are trying to find out how this happened and to find out who is responsible for the fault.”
The incident caused travel chaos as all Eurostar trains were halted with the electricity on the line cut off and none went in or out of St Pancras for two hours.
Trains were eventually on the move by 9.30pm.
Pub chef Wojtek Wawrzyniak, 33, from Andover, Hants, was stuck coming back from a holiday in Paris with 15 friends visiting from Brazil.
He said: “It was very frustrating. They told us there's no electricity in the station.
“The train stopped somewhere in Kent and we were just sitting there for over two hours.
“We had booked hire cars at Heathrow to get home but we are too late and now we will all have to spend the night in a hotel.”
Software consultant Amit Singh, 34, from Reading, Berks, was on a train from Paris that was held up at Calais.
He said: “We were stuck just before the tunnel for an hour and a half. It's annoying because I have another train to catch.
“They said we can have a free one-way ticket to Paris to make up for it. What's the use of that? You would have to buy another ticket to get home again.
“It's a pointless gesture.”
Honeymooners Jose-Luis Perez, 27, and Anna Mendoza, 25, from Mexico City, were caught up returning through Paris on the last leg of a European tour.
Mr Perez said: “We suddenly stopped for over an hour somewhere in France and we didn't know if we were going to get to London. We have to get to Gatwick for our flight home.”
Mr Smets said that passengers who were delayed by more than two hours would be compensated by a voucher for a return journey and those delayed by one hour would get a single journey.
Reader views (16)
A shocking experience
- Andrew, Ely UK, 25/09/2009 07:23
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Always a sob story or two for any incident or accident, and always someone who will never be happy with any compensation kindly offered. A life without such trials and tribulations is a boring life indeed.
- Trunk, US, 25/09/2009 02:51
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Three reasons why third rail wouldn't work for the high speed line to St Pancras: (1) it doesn't work above 100mph (2) although it looks simpler, it actually needs much more substation equipment etc, and (3) it's more dangerous - just imagine somebody climbing onto the track to retrieve something they'd dropped and accidentally touching the live rail
- Martin, London, UK, 24/09/2009 23:06
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"Is it beyond the wit of man to install some form of circuit-breaker which cuts of the supply when a cable breaks?"
How would that work then? The current flowing to earth would generally be too little to trip a breaker, unless the cable hit some well earthed metal.
The only solution I can see, would involving detection of a sudden change in current flowing (upwards or downwards) and would likely be fairly costly for a scenario that isn't actually that common. Would you accept an increase in your electricity bill to pay for this?
- Tim Watts, Pembury, Kent, England, 24/09/2009 22:34
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Mark, Don't worry people about diesel trains in tunnels. the line to Bristol runs through them every 30 minutes. The real danger in tunnels is road traffic witness the horrific accidents under the Alps. The Finns have enough on their mind landing aircraft at - 30 C.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 24/09/2009 17:44
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At last! Something that can't be blamed on Gordon Brown and New Labour!
But maybe if you dig deeply enough....
- Edward Thompson, Bedfordshire, 24/09/2009 16:34
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Some years ago lightening broke an overhead power cable outside my house - it too snaked about spitting sparks. The fire brigade closed the road but would not go anywhere near until edf(?) turned off the suppy.
Is it beyond the wit of man to install some form of circuit-breaker which cuts of the supply when a cable breaks?
- Roy, Billericay Essex, 24/09/2009 15:02
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I was at the station in front of the train when the cable broke. There was a bang and a shower of sparks from the first pick-up as the cable broke and fell across the fron of the train and the platform, this was followed by the next pick-up and the next. I only saw three failures before leaving the station fairly quickly!
- Terry Kelly, London, England, 24/09/2009 13:57
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Nobby Clark:
Heh heh - Yes...very good.
- Mark H, London England, 24/09/2009 13:47
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maybe they have diesel in finland, but they're not travelling in a tunnel under the sea with the added safety risks that diesel has. Imagina a diesel fire in the tunnel.
- Mark Speers, London, UK, 24/09/2009 13:01
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"This never happened at Waterloo..."
They used the third rail at Waterloo. Old technology, but it seems to be reliable enough, and it is less intrusive visually. But it probably doesn't work too well at 180mph.
- George, London, 24/09/2009 13:01
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This never happened at Waterloo...
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 24/09/2009 11:36
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The photo shows DOMESTIC high speed trains with a carraige of a eurostar in the background....
Better build more of them steam engines based on the one that arrived at Liverpool Street recently!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 24/09/2009 11:20
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How my heart bleeds for the selfish travellers who would rather have seen Eurostar prolong a dangerous situation, just so they wouldn't be inconvenienced.
Can only imagine the fallout if one of them had been zapped on arrival!
- Jock, London, 24/09/2009 10:53
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In Finland they get round this problem with their electric Pendolinos by having a fleet of back up diesels. I travelled on one on Jan 1st this year as high winds had brought down lines the night before. Passengers attempted to ignore Happy New Year graffiti that was sprayed in huge letters down the side of the train. Talk about topical vandalism.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 24/09/2009 10:44
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'Find out who is responsible for the fault'. In other words, hold a very expensive, time wasting enquiry, and then do nothing about it, as usual.
- Minority Working Person, London/England, 24/09/2009 10:22
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