UK - Woman gives birth at London tube station

[John Ashworth]

Woman gives birth at London tube station

* Rachel Williams
* The Guardian, Saturday 3 January 2009

A woman gave birth on the London underground's Jubilee line after her waters broke unexpectedly. Julia Kowalska got off the train at Kingsbury station but went into labour on the platform.

When paramedics arrived they decided there was not enough time to get her to hospital so moved her to a station supervisor's office where they delivered a healthy baby girl 35 minutes after she raised the alarm on 19 December.

The only other recorded birth on the tube was in 1924, when Marie Cordery was born at Elephant & Castle, according to Transport for London.

A TfL spokesman said: "At 9pm the station supervisor received a message from the control room that a woman on a northbound Jubilee line train was complaining of stomach pains. A few minutes later the station supervisor went to the platform and found the pregnant woman having contractions and called an ambulance.

"The woman, accompanied by her sister, was wrapped in a foil blanket to keep warm and taken to the supervisor's office, where the ambulance crew delivered a healthy baby." They were taken to Northwick Park hospital.