GWR delays: Glastonbury Festival trains from London warned after incident led to track closure

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Passengers travelling from London to the Glastonbury Festival face delays after trains were halted this morning.

Great Western Railway (GWR) had previously stated that all tracks in West Ealing in the west of the capital were closed because “emergency services were dealing with an incident near the railway line”.

This affected traffic to and from London Paddington, which is on the route to Castle Cary in Somerset, the closest station to the Glastonbury Festival.

A spokesman for the railway operator confirmed to The Independent that the lines have now been reopened.

“Trains are now running to and from Paddington, including those serving the Glastonbury festival, but there will be some residual delays due to misallocation of trains and staff,” they added.

No further details of the incident were released. Passengers were warned that disruptions would continue until at least midday.

GWR announced earlier this month that it plans to provide over 28,600 seats to festival-goers on trains from London Paddington to Castle Cary between Wednesday and Friday.

It was warned that trains on Wednesday and Thursday mornings would be almost fully booked.

Earlier this week, the RAC warned motorists not to rely on their sat navs and instead follow official signs for the most convenient way to get to Worthy Farm Festival, as more than 200,000 people flock to the iconic music event.

Alice Simpson, spokeswoman for RAC Breakdown, said that “traffic jams are enough to drive people ‘absolutely mad’ at the best of times” – referring to the lyrics of the hit song by Shania Twain, who is performing this weekend – and added that they “can be even more frustrating when you’ve already been travelling for hours with a car full of tents and camping equipment. Although it will be extremely difficult to avoid the heavy traffic on the final roads to Glastonbury, there are some steps you can take to make the experience more bearable.