Originally Posted by
lcylocal
The route is likely blocked beyond where the stopped train is. They could go back to an intermediate station and transfer to buses there. But there wouldn’t be HEX staff there, so they presumably think better to get back to base and help passengers from there.
I assumed that whatever bus picked these people up from a broken down train could simply keep driving in the direction the train was going rather than u-turn them back to Paddington only to swap onto another bus (which will then drive back past the train near enough).
However, it seems that the "rescue service" is another train, in which case your reply makes sense.