London Euston railway station has reopened after being closed due to a trackside fire involving gas cylinders.
Friday morning rush-hour commuters suffered major disruption as no trains were able to operate between Milton Keynes and London Euston due to a fire overnight at a factory and offices.
A trackside wall was damaged in the blaze and had to be dismantled and made safe before services could resume.
Residents evacuated from their homes as fire breaks out in London warehouse (@HarrowMPS/PA)
Rail lines reopened at 1pm although an amended timetable was in place and passengers were urged to check for updates from their train operator or visit www.nationalrail.co.uk before they travel.
More than 50 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze at a timber yard at Chantry Place, Harrow, north-west London.
A two-storey warehouse building was destroyed.
#Harrow fire update. Railway reopened. Positive signs on the board at #Euston @VirginTrains @LondonMidland pic.twitter.com/7mq8Opq2KA
— London Euston (@NetworkRailEUS) September 15, 2017
Social media users reported hearing explosions and London Fire Brigade said 12 people had been evacuated from nearby homes “as a precaution”.
Station manager Jason Jones, who was at the scene, said: “We had a very well developed fire, which was extremely visible from quite a way out.
“There were propane cylinders involved so a hazard zone was set up as cylinders can explode when exposed to heat.
“The site is next to Headstone Lane train station and trains were stopped.
A carelessly discarded cigarette is believed to be the cause of #Islington tower block blaze https://t.co/05mx0WKLaM pic.twitter.com/JGF5vc7jMm
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) September 15, 2017
“Crews worked very hard through the night at this challenging incident to bring the fire under control.”
The brigade was called at 11.47pm and the fire was under control by 3.17am. A total of eight fire engines and 58 firefighters were sent to the scene.
Passengers on a London Midland service from London Euston to Milton Keynes were evacuated from a train at Headstone Lane. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here