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Heathrow Fire Halts Trains, Sparks Travel Chaos
6 Sep
Summary
- Grass fires disrupted electricity supply, causing extensive train delays.
- Services between London Paddington and Heathrow were suspended.
- A separate fire on the airfield led to a runway closure.
Train services connecting Heathrow Airport to London Paddington and Reading experienced significant disruption on Saturday evening following a grass fire next to the railway line. The blaze caused a failure in the electricity supply, leading to the suspension of all services on these routes.
Network Rail Western confirmed the fire was extinguished late Saturday but warned that the disruption would likely persist into Sunday morning. This incident caused trains to be left out of position, potentially affecting Sunday's services. Passengers were advised to allow extra travel time.
Earlier on the same day, a separate grass fire on Heathrow's airfield prompted the temporary closure of the southern runway. This earlier incident resulted in at least two flights being diverted to other airports. Airport officials apologized for the inconvenience caused by the airfield fire.
