On a dark Friday evening in December, the 6:15pm train from London Euston to Manchester ground to a halt at Crewe Station. Outside, a storm was battering the railway lines further north. The train was going nowhere. The delay would last four hours.
Lena Kowalski, 31, was a marketing manager travelling home after a week in London. She was finishing a work presentation on her laptop when the announcement came over the speaker: 'We apologise for the delay.' Lena sighed, saved her file, and worked on the presentation for another two hours. She had a big meeting in Manchester the next morning.
Across the aisle, Tom Chen, 20, was listening to a podcast when the train stopped. He pulled out his earphones and looked around the carriage. The passenger next to him, an older man named Gerald, caught his eye. They started talking and did not stop for the next three hours. Gerald turned out to be a retired engineer who had once worked on the Channel Tunnel.
Further along the train, the Bradley family were having a harder time. The two young children had been sleeping when the delay was announced. They woke up confused, then started asking questions. 'Are we nearly there?' 'Why aren't we moving?' The parents — Rachel and Owen — were reading magazines, but they quickly put them down.
In carriage six, chef Miguel Santos, 45, was calling his wife when the train stopped. He later got up, stretched his legs, and noticed a station worker struggling with a large crate of sandwiches. Miguel helped carry them along the platform to passengers who were waiting outside.
A station worker brought hot drinks along the carriages while passengers were waiting. Some people slept. Some read. Some stared out at the rain.
Eventually, at 10:30pm, the announcement came: the storm had passed. The train moved off quietly into the dark. Lena finished her presentation. Tom exchanged numbers with Gerald. The Bradley children were asleep again before they reached the next stop.