Smoke filled Holborn Tube station following a loud bang on the platform (Picture: @abersentia)

Holborn Tube station has been evacuated after smoke started filling a carriage following what people have described as a loud ‘bang’.

Emergency services were sent to the scene due to a defective train on the Central Line.

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Francesca Sammut told metro.co.uk ‘I was in the end carriage of the central line, just pulled into Holborn station and the loudest bang went off.

‘Smoke filled the carriage in seconds and everyone started panicking. The doors were jamming and people were climbing on top of each other, the staff were amazing and getting everyone out quickly.’


An evacuation was ordered with a tannoy repeatedly stating: ‘Would Inspector Sands please go to the operations room immediately’ – the code phrase to indicate to staff that there is an emergency.

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The bang is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault (Picture: @abersentia)

The station was evacuated with people leaving the building calmly (Picture: @abersentia)

Sarah Marshall who was on the platform at the time said she heard a loud bang. She said: ‘Lots of people ran but others encouraged people to walk and situation was calm. I was towards back of crowd.’



Al Gwatkin, 43, from Chelsea, was getting off the Piccadilly line to transfer on to the Central line at Holborn when the incident happened.

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‘All of a sudden everyone came running out saying ‘they’ve evacuated the station’.

‘You don’t know if it’s terrorist-related. You’re just like “oh my God, get out of here”. There was panic down there. People were screaming,’ he said.

A member of staff outside the station said there had been a problem with a train and emergency services were investigating.

Two fire engines, a police van and an emergency response unit were parked outside the station (Picture: PA)

The smoke is believed to have come from a piece of equipment that overheated (Picture: PA)

A member of staff from London Fire Brigade, who emerged from Holborn station and left in one of the parked fire engines, said the issue was caused by a piece of equipment that had become overheated.

The station was re-opened soon after.

The train was on the Central Line and was causing problems for the rest of the line.

There was no service between Liverpool and White City westbound and tickets were being accepted on London Buses.

Police and fire crews were called to the station in central London (Picture: @abersentia)

Transport for London confirmed that the station was closed while they respond to a fire alert.

Elsewhere in London a train derailed at Waterloo station after apparently colliding with a freight train.

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And at Kings Cross a train hit the buffers at slow speed.

Last week there were reports of panic at Oxford Circus after a Bakerloo Line train filled with smoke following fire started by an electrical fault.

Witnesses described seeing people frozen in fear while many others started rushing to escalators to get to ground level.

However, others said the panic amounted to people tapping their Oyster cards as they left the station so they weren’t overcharged.

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An investigation is underway to find out what caused the incident (Picture: @abersentia)

Loud bang at Holborn, smoke and then an evacuation pic.twitter.com/gh9tLgGsdc — Sarah Marshall (@SarahMarshall) August 15, 2017