Swan on the line causes rush hour delays for south-west London commuters

Delays were expected until 9.30am ‘due to animals on the railway’
A swan on the line caused delays between Kingston and Hampton Wick
ES
Josh Salisbury20 September 2023

A London commuter line was hit by “major disruption” at rush hour on Wednesday - because of a swan on the line.

The pesky bird parked up on the line between Kingston and Hampton Wick in south-west London, with South Western Railway warning of delays or revisions.

In a message to passengers, the train operating company wrote: “Due to animals on the railway between Kingston and Hampton Wick the line towards Shepperton is blocked.

“Train services running through these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:30.

“We have been informed of a swan on the line between Kingston and Hampton Wick. This means that services will be subject to delay and alteration.”

The delays were caused because trains had to run slower due to the swan.

One commuter said: “This has got to be a wind up. Every week something on this line causes cancellations.”

Another replied with a line from comedy film Hot Fuzz, asking the train company: “No luck catching them swans then?”

Meanwhile, a third joked: “More swan late than swan lake.”

Passengers were also being warned of wet and windy conditions throughout Wednesday, although the train company said it did not expect the weather to cause speed restrictions.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in