A Thatcham fire near railway tracks on Monday evening led Great Western Railways to close the nearby line and cancel services for the rest of the night. Long-distance trains between London Paddington and the West Country were diverted, while trains between Reading and Newbury were suspended.
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service said it received a large number of calls to an incident on Colthrop Lane in Thatcham and sent crews to the scene. The service said crews were on site as the fire developed near the tracks.
Great Western Railways and Colthrop Lane
Great Western Railways said it had been informed of the incident before closing the nearby tracks. It kept no trains running through the area for the rest of the evening, which left both local and long-distance passengers with no direct service through Thatcham.
The disruption reached two separate rail patterns at once. One affected passengers travelling between London Paddington and the West Country, and the other stopped trains between Reading and Newbury.
Residents in Thatcham
Residents reported hearing explosions coming from the site of the blaze. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service did not explain what caused them, and the incident was still being handled at Colthrop Lane in Thatcham as the rail closure remained in place that evening.
For passengers, the immediate step was to look for diverted long-distance services or no service at all on the Reading and Newbury line. The question left open by the evening's disruption was what caused the fire and the reported explosions on Colthrop Lane.
