Our ordeal, trapped for 17 HOURS on train

PASSENGERS were stranded on a train for 17 hours as Storm Arwen brought chaos to Scotland’s railways.

Forty-two travellers on the journey north towards Inverness were forced to spend the night in the carriages after storm debris blocked the tracks.

After leaving Aberdeen at 3.25pm on Friday, the service came to a standstill 38 miles into the journey at Huntly.

With the train unable to move and no alternative travel available, passengers were left on board overnight – with some taking to the luggage shelves to try to get some sleep.

However, as hours passed it triggered a raft of support from the local community and off-duty train staff who rallied to help the travellers. ScotRail workers arranged an Asda shop for snacks and also sourced a kettle for drinks.

A local baker provided bacon rolls and pies for those marooned on the train while they waited for a bus to arrive from Inverness to take them to Aberdeen.

One stranded passenger, 40-yearold Steve Tremlett, was in a group of 14 who were visiting Scotland for the weekend from London and surrounding areas.

Speaking from his hotel yesterday, he said: ‘We had been at a distillery tour. We saw the forecast wasn’t great and we were hesitant whether to get the train but they were running, there were speed restrictions and we thought it was in hand and they could cope.

‘We made slow progress, then we were parked for about 45 minutes when they announced there was a power outage because of the storm and signalling was knocked out and we couldn’t leave until that was resolved.

‘As the storm went on, the line was blocked further on and the option of returning from the direction we came was considered but that was blocked as well.’

Two of Mr Tremlett’s group risked the train leaving without them and went to a local shop for supplies. He hailed the efforts of train staff who passed on the information they had and sourced food for the passengers.

Another man, Alan Affleck, whose two sons were on the train, asked ScotRail on social media why accommodation had not been arranged. He later tweeted that their uncle eventually went to collect them.

A Facebook page which posts information from the north of Scotland shared posts from people on the stationary train.

One person said they had been waiting for 17 hours, adding: ‘Staff on board have been excellent. We were informed that a bus was coming from Inverness (no other companies were willing to take the risk) but that is also subject to road conditions.

‘This has been the longest and the shortest train journey I have ever experienced.’

ScotRail said it examined all options including replacement transport and accommodation but nothing was available, so the safest option was for passengers to remain on the train.

A spokesman said: ‘It’s always upsetting when incidents like this occur and we are sorry that customers had to spend the night on the train.’