Yes it isnt nice but you only get off the train in an emergency, by which i mean imminent threat to life, NOT because you are uncomfortable and a bit hot.
And how do you know there was not an imminent threat to life? How hot was the train inside? Once ambient temperatures exceed somewhere between 34-40degC depending on the humidity (which would be high in an unventilated space with a few hundred people, and thus the limit would be closer to 34), the human body loses the ability to keep it's core temperature under control, once the core temp of the body rises above 40 injury and even death can result with an hour or so. The driver (who has a window in his cab) may well have been oblivious to the plight of his passengers - as I doubt that the risks associated with heatstroke is not something that forms part of the a driver's training.
But that is all hypothetical until the report comes out and we find out the reality of what conditions in that train were.
What is not hypothetical is that this is not the first time there have been incidents where doors have been forced open following a train failure, by passengers desperate to get some relief from conditions that they felt were intolerable, after being left to suffer an ever increasing heat and humidity, without any practical assistance for an extended period. This is in my view an inevitable consequence of designing trains that are entirely reliant on functioning air conditioning to ventilate the interior of a train.
Such incidents will continue to occur until units are fitted with some form of backup ventilation - such as is seen on the 158 which has crew operated hopper windows, although of course such arrangements still need train crew to be available to operate them.
In the meantime, I do feel that the rail industry needs to be more aware of the potential for such problems when a train fails on warm days (and even on cool sunny days), and should consider attempting to get some assistance (for example dispatching staff to the train with water), and even, for extended incidents to get sufficient manpower to effectively supervise the doorwells so that they can be opened to provide air whilst ensuring that passengers are not at risk of being able to get onto the tracks.
Leaving several hundred passengers trapped in an unventilated confined space for several hours without practical assistance is, in my opinion, reprehensible conduct that falls well short of any acceptable standard of behaviour - and in such circumstances, whether or not he railway industry like it or not, people will ultimately find ways to help themselves is assistance is not forthcoming - guard or not, when it is 200+ people versus 2-5 traincrew, there is little the crew can do to stop passengers putting themselves at risk and IMHO the safety of the railways requires that the industry recognise this and do more in such incidents.
