Bank underground station evacuated after 'fire on train' as crowd terrified


Passengers are being evacuated from Bank underground station in central London after smoke was seen coming from one of the carriages.

A witness who said they were on board a train at Bank station said they saw a fire breaking out in one of the train carriages. They added that there was a large crowd of evacuees who were "super scared".

A spokesman for Transport for London told The Mirror: "Bank is currently closed, there's a faulty Northern Line train. Looks as though there might be an issue with it. There's a bit of smoke coming from one of the carriages so we've cleared the station and are checking it out at the moment. It's closed for now, once we've had a look at it - the fire brigade are on their way as is procedure when smoke is coming from something. Once we've had a look at it, hopefully we'll open the station as soon as we can."

Through its Access Twitter account, TFL said: "Bank. This station is closed while we deal with a fire alert."

Twitter user Margery Hatpins said she saw "lots of smoke and burning stink on southbound Northern line train on the platform".

TFL later confirmed that the issue had been dealt with and the station had been reopened, adding that the closure had lasted around 26 minutes. They also stressed that there had been no fire.

A similar fire alert was issued at Bank in May this year, with all services temporarily suspended. An update from TfL at the time read: "No service while we respond to a fire alert at Bank. Tickets are being accepted on London Buses via any reasonable route.". DLR services were also disrupted, with no service between Bank and Shadwell.

One eyewitness at Bank reported seeing customers being escorted out of the station as a result of the fire alert. A tweet from TfL said: "Bank - This station is closed while we respond to a fire alert." Bank and Monument stations, two interlinked stations on the London transport network, are among the busiest in the capital.

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