When the announcement came that someone had been hit on the tracks because of a signal failure, there was a collective groan from all the passengers. These things take a lot of time. The entire scene is cordoned and there is intensive examination that takes place. At 1930, 2 hours from home, with the charge in our phones dying, we hoped for a quick resolution.
Thats when I got a call from my sister. She said their 2015 train has been cancelled. I told, yeah must be because of the accident cos the entire route seems locked down. She was a bit frazzled by this. She had my mom and dad on her hands and them being elderly she was very concerned about their welfare. I sitting in a train was not going to be of much help. She spoke to the station staff who confirmed that there was no guarantee that trains would run that night.
My sis panicked and started searching alternative routes to get home. She called me and we discussed that most routes might be a bit tedious to use and might be eventually blocked - cos this seemed to be a pretty bit incident. The best call would be to book a hotel and stay the night. The train tickets were anyways valid for any future travel to Leeds. She searched through a lot of hotels, most coming back with no vacancies since people who were facing cancellations were booking out. Finally after nearly 45 minutes around 2030 she informed me that she had managed to find a hotel near the station and they would head there.
Phew! that was one crisis averted!
Pumpki was getting a bit anxious and restless since it had been over an hour. We tried to pacify her as much as possible and distract her by playing some games. K had a friend who lived nearly an hours drive away. He started checking with him, if it would be ok for us to get to his house. His friend was more than welcome. He also offered to drive and pick us up! But I felt it would be asking too much since it would be around 2230 by the time he would get to us and would take another hour to get back home - nearly mid night. With the next day being a working day for his friend, I didnt think it would be fair to make him take the trip.
It was around 2100 (around 1.5 hours since the incident). The driver announced that there was no positive sign of train moving forward. He said people who could make their way via various means to their intended destinations were welcome to do that. The doors of the compartments from which it was safe to get down had been opened. People started talking and discussing various options. Those who lived in London, started trickling out and making their way back home. There was a lady with young daughters sitting next to us. I started chatting with them to find their thoughts. She said she felt it was much safer being in the train, because definitely some arrangement would be made. They will not let a bunch of trains lie on a track over night because services needed to be resumed atleast for the next day. The arrangements made by the train company might take time, but they would definitely be there. I totally agreed with this, and convinced K that instead of making our way back to London or to his friends house ( depending on God knows which rail service), it was much better to sit in the train.
At 2200 the driver announced that there had been a signal for the train to move! There were wide cheers from the train. It seemed like the best news a group of people had heard in a long time! 15 minutes later, the driver announced that the train would be moving back to London!!!! Whatttt!! Passengers were requested to make some arrangement of staying the night. That was a proper anti climax😖
Everyone got on the phones! I checked a few hotel sites and most of the places were getting booked out or charging extortionate rates. I rang my sister and asked if she could check if there was a room available. She went to the reception and managed to book the very last room available for the 4 of us!! Some close call! Not only that, they had also given us a late checkout. Which meant we could sleep in a bit late to recover from all the drama 😀
Finally at 2230, 3 hours since the halt, the train started moving! We reached London King's Cross station at around 2245. At the station one the rail employee was making an announcement to keep the hotel invoice to make a compensation claim. And people who had not managed to make an accommodation would be given taxis - fully reimbursed by the train. That seemed such a generous gesture by the train company.
We took a cab and finally reached the hotel at 2315. It was a happy reunion with Papa, Mummy and my sis. We had such plans for a day trip and it ended up being so much more. But God was watching over us all through the way and we were so grateful to Him to have eventually ironed it all out.
No comments:
Post a Comment