Tuesday, February 13, 2024 9:21am
Thousands of passengers traveling on the West Coast Main Line between Birmingham and London, one of Britain’s busiest rail routes, are facing disruption after a landslide near Rugby.
Both lines have been closed since Monday night but are expected to reopen on Tuesday afternoon as landslide repair work continues. Passengers are facing travel delays of several hours, with Avanti West Coast and London North Western Railway (LNR) services affected.
Network Rail is advising passengers to use alternative services for the time being. His Birmingham-Euston LNR service will only operate between Birmingham-Coventry and Northampton-London-Euston, with rail replacement services running every 30 minutes between Coventry and Northampton.
Avanti West Coast passengers can use their tickets on LNR trains on reasonable routes, as well as cross-country trains between Coventry and Stafford. Tickets are also available for Chiltern trains between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone.
Phil Burns, Network Rail Operations Director, said: “Network Rail engineers have been clearing vegetation from the embankment to enable a more accurate assessment of the landslide near Rugby.
“Plans are currently in place to inspect the track and remove the soil before it can be put into service. To ensure this can be done safely, the track will be inspected on Monday (February 12) and Tuesday (February 13) mornings. During this period, both lines will be closed overnight. Work is underway to reopen both lines on Tuesday afternoon.
“Our teams are working around the clock to get trains running again as soon as possible. We apologize for any disruption this may cause to travel.”
Dave Whitehouse, safety and security director at Avanti West Coast, said: “Due to a landslide between Rugby and Coventry, network rail will be closed in both directions between the West Midlands and London Euston until emergency repairs can be completed. This means that services will not be able to operate as usual.”
The network has been working to repair the site throughout the day and will continue to do so until tomorrow afternoon, during which time we will continue to work with our industry partners to minimize the impact on our customers. ”
Network Rail has come under fire in recent months following a series of incidents on rail services to and from London and on the Elizabeth line.
Rail services between Paddington and Reading continue to be delayed or canceled due to problems with power lines, broken level crossings and damaged tracks.