London Victoria evacuated after train fire

Gatwick Express train at Victoria station on Thursday Victoria is one of London's busiest stations

A fire underneath a Gatwick Express train prompted the evacuation of London Victoria station at the start of the morning rush hour.

The station partially re-opened after less than an hour once the fire was out and smoke had cleared.

There had been major delays to services for most of the morning but they have now returned to normal.

Southern Rail, responding to queries from customers on Twitter, said: "No-one was hurt which was good."

The train on platform 13 was empty at the time of the fire.

'Quite pungent'

The London Fire Brigade sent two appliances to the station. British Transport Police also said they were called to Victoria Station at 06:53 GMT to reports of a fire.

The fire was extinguished and all platforms have been reopened to the public.

The fire brigade was still dealing with the smoking train.

One witness, Jake Gladman a teacher from Chatham, said: "The stench of the smoke was quite pungent".

Victoria station deals with about 74 million customers every year.

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