London TravelWatch response to Elizabeth line incident, 7 December

Passengers stranded on trains endured nightmare journeys on Thursday evening. You can imagine how unpleasant it must have been for people stuck for more than three hours – as power was cut the trains became cold and dark.

The apparent lack of communication and slow response time to get passengers off to a place of safety is just as concerning. We have heard reports that some passengers even tried to open the doors themselves to self-evacuate. This is extremely dangerous which is why clear information, and a swift coordinated response is a must in emergency situations like this.

We expect TfL Elizabeth line, Network Rail and other authorities involved to investigate this incident thoroughly. Lessons need to be learned so if this sort of thing does ever happen again, both the communication and response is vastly improved.