A BUSY commuter train was evacuated and services disrupted following an explosion under the front carriage of a South Eastern train.

Passengers on the 18.57 Charing Cross to Gillingham service were quickly evacuated after sparks were seen coming from the front carriage and the train filled with smoke shortly before 7.30pm on Tuesday.

As passengers were evacuated safely onto the platform, a loud bang sounded followed by more thick black smoke.

Passenger Hannah Biscombe said: "A friend and I were sitting about two carriages from the front and we saw quite a few of those sparks you get on the line occasionally after we left Woolwich Arsenal but no one really thought much of it.

"When we got nearer to Abbey Wood people started to smell burning but it wasn’t clear if it was the train or just something by the line side.

"Then we got some massive sparks, right outside our window and as we pulled into Abbey Wood the carriage filled up with really thick black smoke.

"The driver asked us to evacuate the train so everyone watched what was happening from the platform. The train had come to a stop just under the footbridge and as people were walking over it there was one final massive explosion from the driver’s cab.

"I think that’s when everyone started panicking because there were people on the bridge who just disappeared behind all this smoke.

"After that one big explosion, when the smoke had cleared we could see that there was a fire under the driver's cab. The station staff were telling us to get out of the station so we all got over the footbridge, and left."

Nigel Jarrett, media relations manager for South Eastern Trains, said: "A fire started on one of the shoes underneath the train near the wheel. There are 750 volts going through there and so it causes a lot of smoke and sparks but it often looks a lot worse than it is.

"As it is underneath the train, the passengers are relatively safe. We are not sure what caused the fire as the engineers are still carrying out investigations.

"Luckily we were able to circumnavigate the service via Bexleyheath so there wasn’t too much disruption."