Runaway Tube with no driver passes six stops

12 April 2012

A Tube disaster was narrowly averted today when a driverless train careered down the Northern line for almost four miles.

Tube staff rushed to divert passenger trains out of the way of the engineering train after it became detached at Archway and began rolling south.

It was not stopped until it reached Warren Street station 13 minutes later, when a steep rise to the station platform brought it to a halt.

Underground controllers frantically ordered trains ahead of the runaway train not to stop at stations to prevent it crashing into them when they called at stations.

One passenger said: "I was on the Tube ahead of the runaway train and we jumped seven stops. The driver told us that we had to move to the front of the carriage immediately as we had an emergency."

Other trains were diverted at Camden Town down the Northern line's Bank branch while the runaway train was ran onto the Charing Cross branch.

Transport for London and the Rail Accident Investigation Bureau today launched an urgent investigation and banned similar engineering trains from the Underground network.

The drama began at 5.25am when the engineering train — used for rail maintenance work — became defective as it headed south into Archway station.

Engineers began to move the defective train northbound by coupling it to an out-of-service Northern line train. However, for reasons that are now under investigation, at about 6.44am the engineering train became detached and began to move southbound.

A TfL statement said that Underground staff "undertook a swift assessment" and decided to allow the train to continue, until it came to a stand at Warren Street, which it did at 6.57am.

The incident resulted in the part-suspension of the line between Finchley Central and Archway and Camden Town to Kennington via Charing Cross. The line remained shut this afternoon.

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