Cop26 attendees stranded in London as fallen tree halts rail services

Hundreds of passengers hoping to travel to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate summit by train have been left waiting inside London’s Euston station after a fallen tree halted services.

Travellers acknowledged the irony of the situation, as many were forced to book domestic flights to the conference on climate change as a result of the cancellations.

Just before 2pm no Sunday, an announcement in the station revealed all train services had been suspended and the concourse was “exit only” due to overcrowding.

Pictures on social media showed the concourse packed with people, many of whom were hoping to travel north for the climate conference which began on Sunday.

David Johnson was left sitting on his train from London Euston to Glasgow for more than half an hour on Sunday morning before eventually being told to get off along with his fellow passengers.

Mr Johnson is attending Cop26 as chief executive of the Margaret Pyke Trust, a UK-based international NGO focused on removing barriers to family planning as part of climate adaptation efforts.

Needing to reach the conference, Mr Johnson decided to book a flight from Gatwick to Glasgow which, he said, “does, of course, seem ridiculous”.

“The irony of the climate impacting the trains, meaning a flight to the climate change conference is the only way to get there today, is not lost on me,” he told the PA news agency.

The disruption came as a result of damage to overhead electrical wires between Rugby and Milton Keynes on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail said its teams are on site near Long Buckby in Northamptonshire, where the damage occurred.

The company said it is working to remove the fallen tree before assessing the damage and beginning repairs.

Travellers are advised not to go to Euston and instead check for regular updates.