A fire alongside the tracks at Feltham on Saturday morning forced the closure of lines serving London Waterloo, bringing South Western Railway (SWR) services to a standstill. The incident coincided with a surge of heat‑related trackside fires across the UK, and the disruption was felt most keenly by the large number of Canadian and American tourists who use Waterloo as their entry point to the capital.
Impact on services
National Rail issued a warning of possible cancellations and delays of up to 50 minutes. By 11 am SWR announced that the affected routes had been reopened, but cautioned that disruption could continue until about 3 pm.
- London Waterloo → Reading: diverted in both directions, not running via Feltham
- London Waterloo → Addlestone: diverted in both directions, not running via Feltham
- London Waterloo → Windsor and Eton Riverside: heavily delayed in both directions
- London Waterloo → Strawberry Hill and London Waterloo → Teddington: subject to delays of up to 40 minutes
Dozens of trains were shown as delayed on the station’s live arrivals and departures board.
Wider context of heat‑related incidents
Heat‑related trackside fires have also triggered service alerts on rail networks in Canada and the United States, underscoring a shared challenge during an unusually warm summer.
The Feltham blaze adds to a string of similar incidents in London this year. A major fire in Stratford on 10 July caused days of disruption, and two days later a large fire in gardens near tracks in Walthamstow forced the closure of part of an Overground line for more than a week.
Recent derailments
Rail disruption in the capital has been compounded by two derailments in the preceding 24 hours. On Friday, shortly after 2 pm, a Greater Anglia service derailed south of Wickford railway station in Essex; the train remained upright and no passengers or crew were injured.
The day before, a Southern service from London Victoria derailed in East Sussex, leaving three carriages on their side and trapping around 150 passengers. Two people were taken to major trauma centres with severe injuries, though the British Transport Police said the injuries were not deemed life‑threatening.
These incidents, together with the Feltham fire, illustrate the pressure on the rail network during this year’s record hot summer.
First reported by the original wire report.