London's Charing Cross reopens after fire on train

Charing Cross station in central London was closed for about two hours following a fire on a train.

The blaze, thought to have been caused by an electrical fault, broke out in a carriage on platform six.

Passengers described panic at the scene, with some saying they had assumed it was a bomb.

However, no-one was hurt and police said there were no suspicious circumstances. The station reopened at about 13:30 GMT.

Eileen Harris, 60, who was on the train, said: "Suddenly the doors burst open and a woman ran through shouting there's a bomb on the train, everybody get off.

"We ran away towards the opposite end of the station because I thought that if there was a bomb, they'd probably take out the concourse.

"But the staff kept saying to us come back in and we really didn't want to come back through the station, because by then there was thick smoke."

Her son Daniel, 26, said: "There was fire and lots of thick smoke, so we assumed that there was a bomb ripping through the train.

"People were running through the train and my first thought was the reason they're running down the train is because they can't get off.

"No-one really knew what was going on."

Vincenzo Minore, who was a passenger on the train, said: "There was panic - you are sitting on a train and hear a blast and see a lot of lights and don't know what it was."

He said there were about 30 to 40 people on the platform at the time of the blast and it took a few seconds until people realised what was going on.

The train affected was the 10.55 South Eastern Trains service to Robertsbridge, in Sussex.

Trains were diverted to London Victoria or London Bridge. The Underground station was closed for about 15 minutes before reopening, Transport for London said.

Network Rail said disruption was likely to continue as a result of the fire.

Although the train station has reopened, platforms five and six remain closed.