Thousands of Great Western Railway passengers were left stranded as police began a murder investigation that involved the railway at Pangbourne in Berkshire.
Some travellers were stuck on a train without access to food or water for more than five hours, finally leaving the train in the early hours of the morning, in heavy rain.
GWR said initially that services on Thursday January 4 were suspended at 1745 “due to a person being hit by a train”, and noted that Thames Valley police were investigating - rather than the British Transport Police, which would normally take charge.
As passengers and the operator expressed frustration about being stuck, on a day when the railway was also affected by widespread flooding, details slowly emerged. Officers had been called to a collision involving a car owned by a local woman who had suffered a fatal stab wound.
Thirty minutes later, police were called to deal with an 18-year-old man who had been struck by a train close to Pangbourne station. The dead people were known to each other, and police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with either death, which were “linked”.
All lines were closed while police gathered evidence. Trains were not allowed to move until shortly before midnight. Some 360 people were stuck on one service close to the incident.
Only hours befo
