Commuters Force Open Train Doors Outside Wimbledon Station

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Panic after fellow passenger reportedly talking abour Doomsday

Commuters forced open train doors outside Wimbledon station in today's rush hour after a fellow passenger started acting strangely.

The man reportedly started reciting Bible verses and talking about Doomsday on the 7.40am Shepperton to Waterloo train.

As the train waited for a platform at Wimbledon at 8.30am, panicked passengers carried out their own emergency evacuation, despite the guard warning about the dangers of the live rail.

British Transport Police attended and spoke to the man, who reportedly had a bag containing drinks bottles and some books. No arrest was made.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We were called at 8.30am to Wimbledon to reports of a disturbance on a train going to Waterloo.

"Passengers self evacuated onto the tracks so British Transport officers attended and we are currently carrying out investigations."

The incident, following an earlier points failure at Waterloo, has caused ongoing disruption and delays to South Western Railway services.

South Western Railways warned delays of an hour would continue until 1pm today (October 2).

They said: "Our control centre received an emergency call from a driver in the Wimbledon area stating that a passenger had left the train and on was on the track. Because of this it was necessary to turn off the current in the area until it was deemed that the person was in a position of safety, all lines have now reopened and normal working has resumed.

"This was following a points failure outside of London Waterloo, which caused platforms 7-11 to be shut for a period of time. Points are the method by which trains can cross from one section of track to another, the points were physically moving, but the systems which detect their position were not allowing to change the signal to green, meaning that trains were unable to pass over the points for a period of time.

"Because of these issues, their location in the busiest part of South Western Railways network, and coming in the busiest time of day, a lot of congestion has built up between London Waterloo and Wimbledon, and trains are subject to large delays as they pass through. Services from all areas of the network are being affected."

October 2, 2017