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Tens of thousands of travelers are facing significantly longer journey times due to landslides between Rugby and Coventry.
This line is normally a very busy line, shared by intercity trains between London and the West Midlands, as well as local and regional services.
However, Avanti West Coast and London North Western Railway are unable to run trains from Birmingham to the capital on their normal route due to landslides.
Phil Burns, Network Rail’s operations director, said: “Network Rail engineers are assessing the damage caused by the landslide between Coventry and Rugby and are making plans to reopen the affected track as quickly and safely as possible. We are working on it.”
“Due to one of the two railway lines in the area being closed to train traffic, services have been reduced in the area and we apologize for any disruption this may cause to travel.”
London Northwestern Airlines told travelers: “Due to landslides between Coventry and Rugby, the route is blocked and we are unable to operate services through the area.”
“We expect this to continue until the end of Tuesday, February 13, 2024.”
Avanti West Coast operates long-distance trains between Birmingham and London.
Where to go?Cancellations are showing on London Euston departures board
(Simon Calder)
A diversion has been introduced which will require passengers from Birmingham to avoid landslides by traveling north-west to Stafford, where Trent Valley Line trains run from London.
Trains from Edinburgh to London continued as usual to Wolverhampton, where they were turned around and taken a detour to Stafford. We are currently about an hour late.
Dave Whitehouse, director of safety and security at Avanti West Coast, said: “Due to landslides between Rugby and Coventry, services to London and Euston will not be able to run as normal until Network Rail completes emergency repairs. means,” he said.
“We are working with Network Rail and other rail operators to ensure that customers can continue to travel to and from London while this work continues over the next few days.”
Other Avanti services at London’s Euston station, including those to Manchester and Glasgow, have been suspended due to staff and train staff shortages.
On Monday, tickets can be used on the Chiltern Railway between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone, or on the cross-country link from Birmingham New Street to Reading and the Great Western Railway from there to London Paddington.
Services could be severely affected on Tuesday, with disruptions likely to continue into Wednesday.