Yesterday (March 7, 2013) a baby was born on a busy commuter train bound for Maidstone East, after setting off from London Victoria, the Evening Standard reports. The 20 year-old mother went into labour suddenly, on the 18:18 service and her contractions began five minutes after she got on, at Borough Green. Sonia Banks’ mother, Mari-Anne Stanley was on board with her and ran up to the driver’s carriage, along the platform at the next stop and asked him to halt the train and put out a call for medics.

Luckily for Banks, 22, there was a midwife, a nurse and a police officer on board. Pretty much everyone you could ask for, really. Though if it was us, we’d probably swap the police officer for a doctor, in this instance. The grandmother to baby Phoebe (I know, we can’t believe she didn’t call her Victoria, either) said “he guard called the ambulance and was extremely helpful, and there was an off-duty nurse, off-duty midwife and an off-duty police officer on board the train, thank God. I believe it was the midwife that helped deliver her… When we were taken off to go to the ambulance there were people on the platform who gave us a rapturous round of applause and cheered. Passengers were lining the platform. The driver was making announcements, keeping the passengers updated.”

Both mother and baby are now recovering at the maternity ward in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The labour began at 7:15pm yesterday and took just 15 minutes. Ms. Stanley said that the labour was relatively pain-free, though she did have her fingers “gently broken,” she joked as her daughter squeezed her hands for comfort.