Dozens stranded after Tube accident
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Your support makes all the difference.Dozens of passengers were helped by police and firefighters off a Tube train after it derailed 200 yards outside Barons Court station in west London last night.
Dozens of passengers were helped by police and firefighters off a Tube train after it derailed 200 yards outside Barons Court station in west London last night.
The rear wheels of the last carriage of the Piccadilly Line train came off the rails at 9.18pm as it was travelling at low speed from Hammersmith to Barons Court.
The BBC said rail staff at the scene had blamed the derailment on a broken rail. It's rusty appearance suggested it had been cracked for some time, it was reported.
At least one passenger said the driver had refused to accept the train had derailed and had tried to move it into the station.
Daniel Slowe, from south London, said: "After we heard a jolt which was bigger than a normal jolt you get on the Underground, smoke filled the carriage and we saw sparks outside the train. I pulled the emergency lever and I could speak to the driver through a microphone. He said, 'Can people stop pulling the alarms.' He kept saying he was trying to get the train moving. When he tried to move the train there was a big crunching noise and the carriage was moving about a bit. Eventually he said there's been a derailment."
The incident was expected to cause disruption today on the Piccadilly Line, the only Tube line to Heathrow Airport.
Police said that of the 76 passengers on board, there were no reports of injuries. A District Line train was sent to get the passengers off with fire brigade, police and Underground staff on board. The train was evacuated by 11pm.
Services were immediately stopped between Acton Town and Hyde Park Corner in both directions.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
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