Grass fire halts all trains to Heathrow Airport

September 6, 2026 at 01:02 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

A trackside grass fire halted all trains to and from Heathrow Airport on Saturday, blocking lines between London Paddington and the airport's terminals. National Rail said major disruption was expected until the end of Saturday, with some services possibly affected into Sunday morning. The incident came hours after a separate grass fire on Heathrow's airfield shut a runway earlier in the day.

Key Facts

All lines were blocked between London Paddington and Heathrow's terminals, as well as Reading, due to a failure of the electricity supply caused by a fire next to the track.
London Fire Brigade deployed six fire engines and around 40 crew members to tackle the blaze near Scrubs Lane, North Kensington.
Great Western Railway cancelled its services to Reading, and no Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express services were running between Paddington and Heathrow on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday, Heathrow's southern runway was closed while crews tackled a grass fire on the airfield, causing at least two flights to be diverted elsewhere.
The Met Office's Fire Severity Index shows 'exceptional' fire severity in some parts of London including Heathrow, as well as on the Essex and Suffolk coasts.

Rail Disruption

Trains to and from Heathrow Airport were halted after a trackside grass fire caused delays and cancellations. National Rail said 'major disruption' was expected until the end of Saturday following the incident which began shortly after 16:00 BST. An update from Network Rail Western late on Saturday said the fire had been extinguished, but warned that disruption would continue, possibly into Sunday morning for some services. Pictures on social media showed crowds of stranded passengers at Paddington, one of London's main rail hubs.

Airport Fire Response

Earlier on Saturday, Heathrow's southern runway was closed while crews tackled a grass fire on the airfield. The fire caused some disruption with at least two flights diverted elsewhere. Heathrow apologised for any disruption and said the fire was extinguished quickly. That comes weeks after another grass fire near Heathrow's southern runway which forced 18 flights to divert and destroyed a large area of grassland.

Wildfire Risk

While weather has cooled across much of the UK in recent days following record-breaking heat over the summer, fire crews have still been warning of wildfire risks. The Met Office's Fire Severity Index shows that if a wildfire was to occur, it would have a 'high' fire severity in most of south-east England and some of the Midlands. The fire severity is 'exceptional', the highest level on the index, in some parts of London including Heathrow, as well as on the Essex and Suffolk coasts.