Eurostar sent on to wrong London line

Rail investigators were trying to find out yesterday why a signaller sent a Eurostar train carrying hundreds of passengers on the wrong route.

The train, which had travelled from Paris, should have gone to London Waterloo station, but was sent on to the line towards Victoria.

The driver realised the error, stopped the train and reversed so he could reach Waterloo. The service arrived nearly 30 minutes late at 11.16pm on Monday. Railtrack, which said the signaller was relieved from duty, insisted that there was no danger to passengers.

But some of the 446 on board said they had been worried when the train was suddenly plunged into darkness during the incident.

A spokesman for Railtrack said: "At around 10.30pm a signaller sent the 7.43pm Eurostar to London Waterloo in the wrong direction on its approach to Waterloo station. The driver of the train quickly realised the routing error, stopped and was given permission to reverse his train and take the correct route into Waterloo. There was absolutely no safety risk in this matter and the net result was the service arriving at Waterloo some 27 minutes late."

The spokesman said it was normal practice in such circumstances to relieve the signaller from duty. The employee would be dealt with through "normal internal procedures".

¿ Three Channel Tunnel Eurostar trains are to be added to the fleet on the main London to Edinburgh route. Their arrival signals more trains, more seats and quicker journey times, Great North Eastern Railways said.

From 2 June there will be six trains every weekday from Leeds to London and five extra from London to Leeds.