A New World Record, Two Lives Gone... and Chaos for Thousands

I saw earlier in the week that a new World Record had been confirmed for travelling to every station on the London Underground. The record beat, by five seconds, the previous one of 18 hours 35 minutes and 43 seconds set by Geoff Marshall and Neil Blake in May 2004.

So, on Thursday I though I was on course for my own record. From street level on Charing Cross Road outside Tottenham Court Road to setting foot on the Central Line platform at Ealing Broadway took 27 minutes. Now as the journey is only timetabled to take 27 minutes, even with Lancaster Gate closed, that's about as good as it gets!

At Ealing Broadway it was however absolute chaos. No-one was being allowed onto the First Great Western platforms, there were stationary trains in both west bound platforms and all passengers were being advised to use alternative routes. For those going to Reading that would involve going all the way back into London and catching the alternative Reading Line from Waterloo.

I subsequently found that the cause of the total suspension was an apparent killing and subsequent (linked) fatality on the line at Hanwell. How do things get that bad?

For me it only meant shopping at Marks & Spencer on Ealing Broadway rather than going to my original destination. For many it was an extremely long jorney home and, of course, two people never got there. It puts life in perspective!