UNHAPPY rail passengers were left more hot and sweaty than they might have imagined after a series of air conditioning failures blighted the c2c network on the hottest day of the year.
Services during the evening peak on Tuesday were already busier than normal as c2c was accepting Greater Anglia tickets due to overhead line problems on the Southend Victoria branch line.
And c2c was inundated with complaints on social media from passengers bemoaning the fact air conditioning was not working in their carriage.
The problem was so widespread, the rail operator asked customers to tweet the five digit code of the carriage they were in if there was a problem.
@c2c_Rail 68721 never seen so many people literally melting on a train before, outrageous and unacceptable
— Mandy Byrnes (@creativefotoz) July 19, 2016
@c2c_Rail I'd do it if only I could see the screen through the rammed carriage. sheep are transported better #unsafeinheat
— Alun Finnigan (@alunfphysio) July 19, 2016
@c2c_Rail 74089 if you're going to insist on overcrowding your trains by being so pig headed about the timetable then you need to sort this!
— daveyb (@daveyb2009) July 19, 2016
@c2c_Rail 74609 floor wet from sweat dropping off people
— Claire Gavaghan (@clairegavs) July 19, 2016
@c2c_Rail 74705 - it is stiflingly hot!!!
— Jo Daly (@JoDaly6) July 19, 2016
Some customers even reported the system was pumping out hot air instead of cold air.
@c2c_Rail 74059. My train this morning 8.13 from Benfleet was actually pumping out hot air from the heating. I moved away.
— George (@georgebfrancis) July 19, 2016
A c2c spokesman said: "We are sorry that some passengers have found air conditioning problems on some of our carriages. Just as with buildings and other premises the air temperatures in the 30s have tested our fleet.
"To deal with this we are checking every train at the end of each journey and resetting systems if they are found to need it. We have also provided extra staff to start up train air con systems earlier in the morning and early evening where trains have been parked out of service. We have very few faults on any systems but where we have found faults we have been repairing them promptly.
"We know this is a vital issue for customers and we are encouraging people to report any faults along with the vehicle number, and our examiners are picking these up as part of their checks."
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