On Tuesday 2 June heavy rain flooded a tunnel between Hampton and Fulwell, forcing us to close the line between Fulwell and Shepperton.

The railway in the Fulwell area is prone to flooding because of the nearby Longford River. Water regularly runs off near the railway and is normally removed by pumps and drains that were installed as part of a large-scale project in 2016.

Unfortunately, during the heavy rain on Tuesday, these pumps failed, overwhelming the tunnel’s drains and flooding the tracks running through it.

Floodwater rose above the level of the rails, submerged the third rail carrying 750 volts of electricity, and trapped two trains at Hampton and Shepperton. Because of the safety risk this posed, we were left with no choice but to close the line between Fulwell and Shepperton. You can see in the middle photo below, steam rising from water that had covered the third rail.

Despite extensive efforts, engineers were unable to repair the two drainage pumps. As a result, replacement units had to be sourced from an external supplier and installed. This process took longer than anticipated, and further complications arose during the installation and connection of the new pumps.

The supplier then had to fabricate a bespoke, specialist part and install it. Just before midnight on Wednesday 3 June the new pumps were connected and the floodwater was drained away, allowing us to move the trapped trains and reopen the line on the morning of Thursday 4 June.

We are very sorry for the significant disruption that you experienced between Tuesday 2 and Thursday 4 June. We are now investigating why the pumps failed and why it took longer than we expected to replace them, so that we can prevent it from happening again.

I am very sorry for the disruption this week and very grateful for your patience.

Matthew Winnie
Chief Customer & Commercial Officer