The real world came crashing into the classroom in the most jarring of manners today following the terrorist attacks on London ‘s transport network.

Although we were shielded from the full impact of these atrocities by distance, the knock-on affect on the railways were still felt. We managed to struggle on with our training for a while (which, ironically, was on train accidents, emergency protection and train evacuation), but we had to give up after our trainer vanished at the behest of the depot manager. Instead, we drank tea in the messroom and watched events unfold on TV in the company of many ‘one’ and WAGN drivers. After a while we were told that we might as well go home, and so we did.

Being serious, I just don’t have the words to express the sadness and outrage that I feel as a result of these attacks. The deliberate targeting of innocent civilians at the height of the peak is nothing short of cowardly and simply cannot be justified to further any agenda. However, I do feel a lot of pride and admiration towards the railwaymen and women of all grades on both National Rail and London Underground who did sterling work today to ensure that a bad situation was not made any worse. I honestly can say that I feel honoured to be joining a profession that conducts itself in this way and just hope that, should the time ever come, I can measure up to the example that was set today.