An escaped giant tortoise takes up the train tracks and brings traffic to a halt

After a summer of strikes, British commuters are quite used to delays, but the reason behind them on this particular journey took everyone bysurprise. It's not so often the world has to wait for a slow poke of a reptile to budge so that people can carry on with their business.

A giant tortoise on train tracks

Daily Mail writes that trains on the southeastern line were halted due to a giant tortoise that occupied almost the whole width of the tracks. The animal was injured and 'too heavy to lift'. The traffic between the city of Norwich and Stansted Airport was stopped for more than an hour due to the unusual obstacle.

One passenger, Lydia Jane White, tweeted:

Train delayed because of a giant tortoise, too heavy to lift, stuck on the train tracks after having escaped from a local wildlife centre is not something I thought I'd ever hear from a train driver!

Diane Akers, another traveller, photographed the tortoise on the opposite track when her train got stopped.

She said:

It was very large and filled a substantial area of the track. I tried to tweet Greater Anglia, but I'm not sure the message got through. When we got to Norwich station I told staff in the office there, and the chap looked at me as if I was mad - and then a police officer came along and said he'd seen my tweet.

The trains resumed 90 minutes later after the animal was rescued and taken to the vet.

‘Still alive but injured’

According to BBC News,the whopping 76cm-long escapee tortoise is called Clyde. It had gone missing from nearby Swallow Aquatics, an aquatic centre and pet shop, a few days earlier. When seen next on the rail tracks, the animal had a large gash on top of its shell.

Clyde was removed from its dangerous path and taken to the vet.

A Greater Anglia customer adviser called Georgie later wrote that the tortoise was injured and had been taken to a specialist team for treatment.

She said:

We have been informed that he will make a full recovery.

Giant tortoises are among the world's longest-living animals, with an average lifespan of 100 years or more. These slow-moving creatures are known for being good-natured and are found in many aquatic centres in Britain.

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