A video shows the moment a group of rail passengers abandoned a train stuck in a tunnel at Birmingham New Street to finish their journey on foot.
A West Midlands Railway train from Lichfield to New Street came to a halt on Tuesday lunchtime after overhead cables became damaged by the extreme temperatures during the heatwave.
Fed-up passengers were stuck on board for over an hour before several of them decided to leave the stricken vehicle and walk along the railway line to the platform.
Birmingham Live reports that the problems began at about 1pm when overhead cables came crashing down after an “explosion”.
With the train stationary in sweltering heat, carriages quickly became uncomfortable and passengers described conditions similar to a sauna in the sweating temperatures.
Others said they were "melting with no water". Passengers eventually disembarked the train and walked for about five minutes next to the tracks to reach the platform.
Passenger Conor Moloney told how it felt like a sauna on the train and later filmed as he left the carriage.
The 29-year-old told BirminghamLive: "I heard a big bang and the train rocked then the power went out. It was scary.
"We all had to use torches on our phones to see. Was like a sauna on there - just really hot. I thought I was going to pass out.
“They gave us Ice lollies and bottles of water afterwards."
Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central route director, said: “As predicted the extreme temperatures have impacted our overhead cables which power trains and we’ve had to stop all trains at Birmingham New Street station.
“Please keep following our ‘do not travel’ message today as journeys are being severely impacted.
“We’re sorry to people impacted and we’re working as fast as we can to get things back up and running.”
A statement from Birmingham New Street on Twitter on Tuesday night said: “Due to the extreme weather experienced today, we have teams working overnight fixing faults.
“Please check before you travel in the morning (Wed 20 July) with your train operator and @nationalrailenq.
“Thank you for your understanding while we get back to normal.”
