Flames engulf carriage on Battle train

The incident caused chaos and confusion last Sunday morning and resulted in Charing Cross Station being evacuated.

The fire is believed to have started underneath the 10.55am to Robertsbridge while the trainwas waiting to depart from Platform 6 at Charing Cross Station. The blaze affected the front carriage.

The fire is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Eileen Harris, 60, who was heading to Tonbridge, said: “Suddenly the doors burst open and a woman ran through shouting there’s a bomb on the train, everybody get off. We ran away towards the opposite end of the station.

“There were big bangs and pops and flashes. The smoke was the worst thing.”

Her son Daniel, 26, said: “There was fire and lots of thick smoke, so we assumed that there was a bomb ripping through the train.”

Marketing worker Jacob Lovie, 22, said: ‘I was sitting on the platform and there was this loud screech and a big bang. Smoke went everywhere and a few people were screaming.”

A British transport police spokesman said: “The fire is believed to have been the result of an electrical fault and there are no suspicious circumstances.

“The station was evacuated as a precaution and no one was injured.”

A spokesman for Southeastern said: “Thanks to the swift actions of Southeastern and Network Rail staff at the all passengers on the train affected and surrounding platforms were evacuated quickly and safely.

Train services into and from London Charing Cross station only returned to normal on Monday after engineers worked through the night to carry out repairs. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated, with checks centring on the track equipment.”

These dramatic pictures were captured by cosmetics firm chief Vincenzo Minore who was at the scene.