Fire at Edinburgh Waverley?

[Steddenm]

Have been at Edinburgh and the station has been evacuated due to a suspected fire. Can still hear the PA system saying that trains are being delayed due to a fire, except for one CrossCountry service to Aberdeen which is being announced as delayed due to a "fault on this train".

Is it just a false alarm or is the XC Voyager actually on fire. There are a lot of Scottish Fire & Rescue Sevice personnel about as well.

 

[Statto]

Nothing to do with XC service, as looking on Traksy, that's just gone through Prestonpans

 

[sh24]

Things seem to be moving now, so assume it was a false alarm.

 

[class 9]

Station evacuated due to fire alarm, with reports of smoke from the Family Lounge, I've no further details.

 

[saismee]

Station evacuated due to fire alarm, with reports of smoke from the Family Lounge, I've no further details.

Things seem to be moving now, so assume it was a false alarm.

Smoke detectors can be set off by vapes. I think we can guess the cause.

 

[InvernessTMD]

Also trains from Falkirk to Glasgow cancelled for fire?

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W69509/2026-08-27/detailed

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C15186/2026-08-27/detailed

 

[skyhigh]

Smoke detectors can be set off by vapes. I think we can guess the cause.

I'm fairly confident that they would not evacuate the station for a bit of vape 'smoke'.

 

[hexagon789]

Also trains from Falkirk to Glasgow cancelled for fire?

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W69509/2026-08-27/detailed

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C15186/2026-08-27/detailed

Crew displaced?

Unit displaced?

Can thing of a few reasons why the incident might 'carry across' as it were.

I'm fairly confident that they would not evacuate the station for a bit of vape 'smoke'.

I can't speak as to protocol at Edinburgh Waverley, but at work it has happened more than once in my 10 years there.

Any fire alarm activation and we have to evacuate and usher all customers out, there's no judging seriousness or cause even if someone might well know exactly what the cause is - you get out and that's it.

 

[Benjwri]

I can't speak as to protocol at Edinburgh Waverley, but at work it has happened more than once in my 10 years there.

Any fire alarm activation and we have to evacuate and usher all customers out, there's no judging seriousness or cause even if someone might well know exactly what the cause is - you get out and that's it.

While this is true in terms of once it is activated, in many large stations there is a period between the alarm detecting and it automatically alarming where staff can be sent to investigate and if it is not a fire the alarm can be cancelled. The staff will know the difference of vape smoke.

 

[saismee]

While this is true in terms of once it is activated, in many large stations there is a period between the alarm detecting and it automatically alarming where staff can be sent to investigate and if it is not a fire the alarm can be cancelled. The staff will know the difference of vape smoke.

They don't always reach it in time.

 

[CyrusWuff]

While this is true in terms of once it is activated, in many large stations there is a period between the alarm detecting and it automatically alarming where staff can be sent to investigate and if it is not a fire the alarm can be cancelled. The staff will know the difference of vape smoke.

It depends on how the system is configured. I'm aware of at least one station where a single activation in a non-public area (which includes the store rooms for the retail units) or two activations in public areas will go straight to evacuation.

If it doesn't go straight to evac, you've typically got around six minutes to get to a fire alarm panel and investigate, though that can usually be extended by pressing the reset button on the panel.

 

[matchmaker]

Crew displaced?

Unit displaced?

Can thing of a few reasons why the incident might 'carry across' as it were.


I can't speak as to protocol at Edinburgh Waverley, but at work it has happened more than once in my 10 years there.

Any fire alarm activation and we have to evacuate and usher all customers out, there's no judging seriousness or cause even if someone might well know exactly what the cause is - you get out and that's it.

There was a fatality at Larbert earlier in the day. Caused a lot of disruption as all trains between Stirling and Larbert were cancelled.

 

[hexagon789]

There was a fatality at Larbert earlier in the day. Caused a lot of disruption as all trains between Stirling and Larbert were cancelled.

Yes, that's true, though it didn't seem to affect the Glasgow/Falkirk Grahamston service, so I assumed they are crewed/resourced in such a way that a block at Larbert doesn't affect them but one at Edinburgh does.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The building that I used to work in in Cardiff (nothing to do with railways) had a fire system which regulated the floors to be evacuated depending on where the fire alarm was activated.

It had (including a basement) six floors, but the evacuation alarm would only go off for the actual floor plus the ones either side. This meant that if the alarm went off on the first floor, the ground and second floors would be evacuated but not the others. A continuous alarm would sound for the floors to be evacuated, and an intermittent alarm for the others.

It was also quite sensitive (which isn't altogether a bad thing) as it used to go off for smoke from a toaster etc.

 

[Jedipickles]

It was false activation due to dust triggering the sensor, station was reopened 35 minutes later.

 

[styles]

Out of interest, where are passengers expected to evacuated to at Waverley? Especially I imagine it's heaving with it being festival season at the moment.