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Trains in and out of one of London’s busiest stations were halted this evening after a train derailed outside.

All services were affected by the incident at Paddington station, which saw an empty train derail, blocking all lines.

The London Fire Brigade confirmed crews had been sent to the station after reports of a train derailment.

A spokesman for Great Western Railway said the affected train had been an empty coach service which was travelling into Paddington.

He said the derailment appeared to have dragged down part of the overhead wires, which meant other services would not be able to start moving again until checks had been carried out.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "An empty train travelled past a red signal outside Paddington station which activated an automatic derailment.

"No passengers were aboard and there are no injuries but some lines in to and out of Paddington are currently blocked.

Alister Betts, who had been planning to travel to Bristol, said he had ended up trying his luck at Ealing Broadway station along with "thousands of others", some who were getting irate.

However, the shocked passengers were then told there were no trains leaving from there either.

The 47-year-old said: "Chaos would be the simple way to describe it.

"I got to Paddington and there were two fire engines, all of the departure boards were absolutely blank and there wasn't a single member of staff to be seen.

"I found a driver who said there'd been a derailment outside the station and, being quite used to levels of chaos in London, I tried an alternative route."

He added: "It's absolute chaos. It's a total lack of organisation".

Pictures on social media showed fire engines arriving at the station and blanked out departure boards.

One passenger was on the 6.43pm train from Slough when his train stopped suddenly outside the station.

He said: "We were about five minutes away from Paddington when the driver slammed on the emergency brakes. The rain was lashing down.

"We were told there was an incident but not what the incident was. However, I searched Twitter and heard it might be a derailment. I thought it might have been the Heathrow express that just passed us."

Twitter user Funky House London wrote: “Train derailment outside Paddington has brought all trains to an emergency stop. Overhead power has been cut.”

And Adman Stoner wrote: “Derailment and overhead lines down on the way in to London Paddington. Being held at Ealing. All trains halted.”

At Ealing Broadway, many more passengers tweeted their frustration after being redirected there from Paddington and left unable to get on a train.

A tweeted video showed a huge crowd of people yelling at station staff after being told the bad news.

Sadie Gee wrote: "Do NOT go to Ealing Broadway like staff @ #Paddington are saying. No trains, people arguing, chaos!"

And Stubaby tweeted: "Paddington is closed so Great Western Railway sent us to Ealing Broadway. Which was also closed. This is why people go on rampages."

Disruption is currently expected at Paddington until the end of service.