Train makes emergency stop for woman on track

A train was forced to perform an emergency stop after a woman decided to walk 35 miles home along a railway track.

The woman, 38, with shopping bags in hand, walked across six railway lines from Bristol Parkway station on her way home to Cheltenham shortly after 9am on Saturday.

The driver had to slam on his brakes when he saw the woman, and stepped down from the cabin to help her aboard before driving her back to the station.

She was captured on camera by a trainspotter who took pictures of her walking the 650 metres along the tracks before being picked up by the train.

John Hobbs, 61, from Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, was waiting on a bridge to photograph a special service due to arrive from Birmingham when he saw the woman.

Train services in the area were halted between 9am and 9.30am.

A British Transport Police spokesman today said they were investigating the incident and said that the woman, who has not been named, was not in a disturbed state.

He said: "I can confirm that a 38-year-old woman from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, has been reported to the Crown Prosecution Service for trespass after she was discovered walking alongside the line near Bristol Parkway railway station.

"Railway staff escorted her back to the safety of a platform at Bristol Parkway station where she was met by BTP officers who accompanied her on a train to Cheltenham where she was reunited with her family."