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Hundreds of commuters were forced to escape from a rush-hour train today amid a fire scare.

Around 400 people made an emergency exit from a Southeastern train near Hither Green at about 8am when thick smoke started billowing out from underneath a carriage. There were chaotic scenes as passengers banged on the sides of the train yelling at others on board to “get out” after an alarm was activated.

The Charing Cross-bound train ground to a halt as it was pulling into Hither Green station. Commuters used emergency buttons to open doors moments after the driver tried to assure them nothing was wrong.

Several passengers tweeted photographs of the evacuation and wrote how a wave of “panic” spread through the carriages.

Michelle Carpenter, 31, a personal assistant from Greenwich, said: “We smelled electrical smoke and the train stopped very suddenly outside Hither Green.

“All of the lights went off. People were walking along the side of the train saying it was on fire.

“Then more people started running past shouting: ‘Get out! Get out! The train is on fire.’

“Someone used the emergency button to unlock the door and the gentlemen were very chivalrous helping us all down the five feet jump from the carriage on to the track.”

Accountant Jonathan Lewis, 27, said: “It started looking like it was foggy outside, then there was the sound of all the windows shutting in the carriage in front of ours.

“Then passengers poured into our carriage to escape the smoke.

“The announcement was ‘we hope to be moving shortly’, but by this point the doors were already open and people were helping each other down on to the track.

“It was close to Hither Green station but there were a few people panicking. The smoke was still billowing out from when we reached Hither Green.”

Southeastern blamed the smoke on a shoe gear - an electrical component that skims the live electricity rail to conduct power to the engine - and said there was smoke but no flames.

A spokesman for the operator said all passengers were “evacuated safely to the station” and engineers were trying to establish the cause of the fault.

The incident led to serious delays on services from Dartford into London. Replacement buses were being used on the suspended part of the line as engineers removed the train and checked the line for faults.