THETFORD, England — Passenger trains of British operator Greater Anglia were disrupted for about an hour Monday afternoon because of an escaped giant tortoise on the tracks.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The BBC reports that the animal, about 2½ feet long, had escaped from pet and aquarium store Swallow Aquatics on Sunday. It was injured after being struck by one train, with photos showing damage to its shell. The tortoise was spotted about 12:40 p.m. local time.
“We are sorry for the disruption caused to cusomters between Norwich and Cambridge this afternoon,” a Greater Anglia spokeswoman said. “This was due to a very large, injured tortoise on the line near Harling Road. Network Rail attended and helped the animal.”
Two trains were terminated early and one was delayed by about 20 minutes, she said.
The tortoise is expected to make a full recovery.
well you don’t see that happening everyday
Looks like he can move faster than most of the fright on the class 1″s
Guess the rail line will have to “shell out ” for this one!
Guess so!
How gracious of Network Rail to curtail operations so the tortoise can be rescued and treated.
This isn’t a main line. The main line would be further north, Norwich to Peterborough.