A routine evening commute turned into a nightmare after a faulty Jubilee line train left passengers stranded in carriages for hours before being evacuated onto the tracks.
The train broke down near Waterloo during the Monday evening rush hour, causing severe disruption across the line and sparking chaotic scenes underground.
Passengers trapped for hours
One woman said she was stuck for three hours inside a packed carriage before British Transport Police and station staff eventually evacuated passengers. Videos posted on TikTok showed commuters sitting on the floor in sweltering conditions as lights cut out.
She later wrote: “Can I get compensation for life for this PTSD event?”
Another passenger, J Soeiro Goncalves, said: “Two hours later we were let out and walked back – on the tracks – assisted by staff and Transport Police – to Waterloo Station. Everyone was calm and very civilised.”
Others described being left “in pitch black for over an hour, sweating” and said the ordeal left them close to panic.
Evacuation onto tracks
Footage showed commuters being guided off the stranded train and onto the tracks in dramatic scenes rarely witnessed by the public. They were escorted back to Waterloo station through service tunnels.
TfL apology and disruption update
A TfL spokesperson said:
“We apologise to Jubilee line customers who were held on a faulty train yesterday evening and to those customers whose journeys were disrupted by this incident, which involved the incident train and an additional faulty train. Engineers are working as quickly as possible to restore a good service on the line.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Jubilee line remained subject to severe delays, with thousands of commuters affected.
The disruption comes just days before a planned RMT strike that is expected to bring most Tube services to a halt between 7 and 11 September if no agreement is reached.
