A woman who went into labour on a London Underground train gave birth to a girl, the first baby recorded to have been born on the Tube for 84 years.

Julia Kowalska, a Polish citizen who lives with her sister in Brent, North London, found that her waters were breaking while she was travelling on the Jubilee Line. When she arrived at Kingsbury station, near Wembley, she was helped off the train by her sister, but it was too late to take her to hospital, or even off the platform.

Fellow passengers were aware that Ms Kowalska was in distress as the train pulled out of Neasden station, heading north. When it arrived at Wembley Park, the next station, they alerted staff. But the train left before anyone could come to her aid, so staff rang one stop ahead to Kingsbury.

Sebastian Rebello, the station supervisor there, was aware that a passenger was in distress, but he had no idea that he was about to be present at a birth.

“I got a call from Wembley Park about a woman with stomach pains,” he said. “But it was only when I reached the platform that I found out she was expecting.”

Faced with the prospect of the second birth to take place on the network, he inspected the station's first-aid kit for useful material. There was nothing specifically designed for ad hoc obstetric work, but he produced a foil blanket to keep Ms Kowalska warm and decided to move her into his small office on the platform.

Mr Rebello said: “I just kept holding her hand to try to reassure her. I was a bit anxious, I just wanted the ambulance to get there as soon as possible.”

The London Ambulance Service received a call at 8.58pm and sent an ambulance and fast response vehicle. Paramedics arrived within minutes and a little over 30 minutes later delivered a healthy girl in the supervisor's office.

Ms Kowalska and her daughter were taken to Northwick Park Hospital, where they stayed for four days before being allowed home on December 22.

Transport for London said that there had only been one other birth recorded on the London Undergrond in its 145-year history. Marie Cordery was born at Elephant and Castle station in South London in 1924.

Excited press reports of the time claimed that she had been named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would have read T.U.B.E.) but the story was later proven to be fanciful.

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