Picture of a cat on top of a Euston train preventing its departure

This is a short story about how cats can disrupt travel. Just this morning I wrote about a feral cat attacking an airline pilot in the cockpit in midflight. The pilot had to return to Khartoum International Airport. The passengers were perhaps bemused and amused at the same time except for the disruption the cat had to their itinerary.

Picture of a cat on top of a Euston train preventing its departure. Picture: Network Rail.

In this instance travellers on the 9 pm service from London Euston to Manchester faced disruption because a domestic cat had climbed on top of a high-speed train. The cat refused to budge and it took Network Rail staff 2.5 hours to coax the cat down. It was made more complicated because there were overhead 25,000 volt lines. They had to avoid them both for their sakes and that of the cat.

Eventually they succeeded by pulling a heavy-duty bin towards the carriages, leaving it next to the carriage on which the cat was perched and which encouraged him to jump down. The cat duly disembarked and walked off without thanking his rescuers.

Tabby cat on top of a train which
prevented its departure. Photos:
Network Rail.

Pictures have been released by the government-owned company yesterday showing the cat perched on the driver's cab of the Pendolino operated by Avante West Coast. They are published here.

P.S. The passengers were not delayed for the full 2.5 hours as they were taken off the said train and travelled north on another.