Elizabeth Line falls fowl to a swan

A swan has caused the partial suspension of London's Elizabeth Line.

The almost £19 billion pound route which opened in May 2022 had services stopped while the bird blocked part of the route.

On it's website Transport for London said there were no services between Abbey Wood and Heathrow with severe delays elsewhere. Once the line was cleared commuters were warned of continued delays.

Passengers reported being held on trains - which do not have toilets - for up to hour due to a swan on the tracks at Paddington.

One Twitter user wrote: "I have been trapped on the Elizabeth line for an hour because of a swan on the line."

Another posted: "You are an absolute shambles @TfL. I cannot believe you closed the entire Elizabeth line for a swan on the tracks.

"Has nobody been on the shooing course. How hard is it to move a swan?"

The Elizabeth line stretches from Reading in Berkshire and Heathrow Airport to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood.

In a statement Tfl said

"We apologise to customers whose journeys have been delayed or cancelled due to a swan which caused an obstruction on the Elizabeth line. We are working with Network Rail to recover the service as quickly as possible.”

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