Glastonbury Festival: Warning over GWR train delays out of London after incident shuts tracks

Passengers heading out of London for Glastonbury Festival are facing delays after the trains were halted this morning.

Great Western Railway (GWR) said earlier that all lines were blocked at West Ealing, in the west of the capital, due to “the emergency services dealing with an incident near the railway”.

The British Transport Police have since confirmed that there was a fatality on the tracks.

Services to and from London Paddington have been effected, which is on the route serving Castle Cary in Somerset, the nearest station to Glastonbury Festival.

A spokesperson for the train operator confirmed to The Independent that lines have now reopened.

”Trains are now moving into and out of Paddington, including those serving Glastonbury festival, but there will be some residual delays due to misplaced trains and crew,” they added.

There have been reported of dozens of would-be passengers forced to sit on the floor at the London station while waiting for information on their trains.

Travellers being warned to expect disruption until at least midday.

“Officers were called to the line near West Ealing at around 7.30am today (27 June) following reports of a casualty on the tracks,” a British Transport Police spokesperson said.

“Paramedics also attended, however sadly a person was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”

GWR said earlier this month that it planned to provide more than 28,600 seats on trains from London Paddington to Castle Cary between Wednesday and Friday for festivalgoers.

It warned that early and mid-morning trains on Wednesday and Thursday were almost fully booked.

Earlier this week, the RAC warned drivers drivers not to rely on their sat-navs and instead follow the official signs to get them all the way to the Worthy Farm festival as easily as possible, as more than 200,000 people descend on the legendary music event.

RAC Breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson that “traffic jams are enough to drive people ‘totally crazy’ at the best of times” – referencing the lyrics of hit song from Shania Twain, who is performing this weekend – adding that they can “be even more frustrating if you’ve already been travelling for hours with a carful of tents and camping equipment. While it will be extremely difficult to avoid heavy traffic on the final roads leading to Glastonbury, you can take several steps to make the experience more bearable.