Heathrow travel chaos as fire shuts key station with passengers facing horror delays for hours

A fire has broken out near and halted rush hour travel with one key station forced to close and disruption expected to last until noon.

Travellers are facing delays between Heathrow Terminals and , which will likely continue for hours, National Rail said. The train operator took to X to warn passengers: "NEW: A fire in the Heathrow area means are currently unable to call at #HeathrowTerminals." Those having to take alternative routes will have their tickets accepted on other lines at no extra cost. said on its website: "A next to the track between Heathrow Terminals and London Paddington means trains running between these stations may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or cancelled. Disruption is expected until 12:00".

Affected routes include the Elizabeth line between Heathrow Terminal 5 and Shenfield and the Heathrow Express between Heathrow Terminal 5 and London Paddington. Tickets will be accepted on the following routes at no extra cost:

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• London Underground on the Piccadilly line
• Local buses between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow
• Great Western Railway between London Paddington Reading
• South Western Railway between London Waterloo and Reading

National Rail later said: "Lines have now reopened following a fire next to the track between Heathrow Terminals and London Paddington. However, whilst service recovers, trains running between these stations may still be delayed by up to 30 minutes or cancelled."

Passengers have been urged to check their journeys on the National Rail website. Some travellers may be entitled to compensation if they experienced a delay in completing their journey. "Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim." the operator said.

It comes just hours after a horror crash in Feltham left three people dead and sparked another blaze just minutes from the airport. The H26 bus crashed head on with a silver on a railway bridge on Monday night, leaving both the car and bus alight, police said. Six people were also left suffering from injuries.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told The : "At around 23.55 hrs on Monday, 31 March officers in a response vehicle came across a car alight on Bedfont Road, Feltham. The vehicle had been involved in a collision with a bus at the location. Very sadly, three occupants from the car were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth occupant was taken to hospital. We await an update on their condition."

Last month, more than 200,000 holidaymakers were left stranded in hotels or sent home after a huge fire ripped through a substation near Heathrow Airport, which knocked out its power supply and forced Europe's busiest airport to close for the day. The airport was due to handle 1,351 flights, but planes were diverted to other airports across the UK and Europe, impacting around 290,000 passengers.