Hundreds stranded on crippled train line

Hundreds of travellers were stranded on trains as damage to overhead power lines brought one of the country’s main rail lines grinding to a halt today.

All East Coast train services between London and the northeast were suspended.

The disruption is the latest to hit transport in Britain during a bitter cold snap, with snow and ice also grounding flights and slowing road traffic.

A spokesman for the train company told BBC television that several hundred passengers were stuck on six trains in different locations between London and Peterborough.

Disruptions have left thousands of train passengers frustrated.



A passenger who was briefly trapped on one of the trains near Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire described how he had to clamber out of the stranded train in freezing conditions.

“We’re going to have to climb down a ladder from the train on to the trackside, where they’re going to evacuate us in groups of 20,” Ian Dormer told BBC Radio.

The company said in a statement all train services to and from London King’s Cross station on the busy line had been suspended for the rest of the day.

“East Coast is also advising all passengers who have arrived at King’s Cross to go home and restart their journeys tomorrow,” it said.

The company runs 136 weekday train services along Britain’s east coast, linking London and Scotland.