10:15am Tuesday 28th November 2000
RUSH hour trains to Kent, on the Bexleyheath line, were disrupted on Monday when part of the railway line was damaged by fire.
Shocked commuters at Welling railway station were asked to move back to safety as part of the rail lines burst into flames just after 8am.
The fire, which generated intense heat, lasted for less than a minute. It was a flashover between the conductor rail and the ordinary rail line. Connex South East said the likely cause was a discarded golf umbrella found on the line, which had caused a short circuit.
Although the fire was only brief, the heat caused damage to the rail and no Dartford-bound trains could run on the Bexleyheath line through Welling, until a new stretch of line was installed later in the day.
Until the rail was replaced, Kent-bound travellers were forced to use the Sidcup and Woolwich lines.
A Connex spokesman said even if a train had been on the line at the time, passengers would have been in no danger. The trains are designed with under-floor protection from flashovers. Flashovers do occur from time to time, but there would be no danger to a train from one, he added.
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