West Coast Mainline day two disruption

Train passengers are facing a second day of major disruption after a Glasgow to London train derailed, seemingly after hitting a landslip.

The 04:28 Avanti West Coast service came off the tracks on the West Coast Main Line at Shap in Cumbria on Monday morning while travelling at 80mph.

Of the 87 people on board, including staff, four suffered minor injuries but no-one required hospital treatment, North West Ambulance Service said.

Network Rail said the train had been removed and overhead lines repaired, adding it was confident disruption on the line north of Preston and south of Carlisle would clear by Wednesday morning.

Darren Miller, infrastructure director for the North West, said: “The advice is to check before you travel.

“The train has been recovered so that clears the site now. The overhead lines have been reinstated and we have dug out a lot of the debris that was in the way.

“We do have some track work still left to do… but we are on track with the recovery and we are happy with the progress, considering the weather we have had overnight as well.”

Avanti West Coast is warning customers not to travel further north than Preston or south of Carlisle and said tickets could be used from Wednesday to Friday instead.

The derailment has also hit TransPennine Express services, which use the West Coast Main Line.

Buses will be running instead of trains on TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast services between Preston and Carlisle. Tickets will also be accepted on alternative routes with some other train operators.

Network Rail, which looks after the track, said the precise cause of the 11-carriage train’s derailment was still being investigated but operations director Sam MacDougall said early indications suggested the train had hit a landslip.

He said: “We believe the train was travelling at approximately 80mph (129km/h) at the point of collision and then stopped very quickly thereafter.”

Mr Miller said there were cameras monitoring possible landslides but it was hard to say how the situation occurred.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Engineers have worked through the night with our contractors to successfully move the train.

“Immediately following this teams began the complex work to repair the damage to overhead lines, track and signalling as well as initial works to repair the landslip.

“This is a complex fix, and our teams are working in challenging conditions with a further Met Office yellow weather warning for rain today.”

They said their goal is to reopen the line so trains can run as soon as possible on Wednesday but are urging passengers to continue to check before they travel.

Avanti West Coast services between Glasgow Central and Birmingham New Street, Crewe, Wolverhampton, London Euston, and also between Edinburgh and London Euston are disrupted by the track closure.

Caledonian Sleeper trains are affected, with services between Glasgow, Edinburgh and London cancelled, while services between Aberdeen, Fort William, Inverness and London have been diverted.

TransPennine Express services between Edinburgh, Glasgow Central and Manchester Airport, and also between Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street, are disrupted.

Network Rail said the following changes would apply to Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express services:

• Avanti West Coast services that normally run from Edinburgh, Glasgow Central to London Euston are cancelled, and a shuttle service is running from Glasgow Central to Carlisle
• Avanti West Coast services that normally run from London Euston to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh will run between London Euston and Preston only
• TransPennine Express services that normally run between Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street will run between Preston and Liverpool Lime Street only
• TransPennine Express services that normally run between Edinburgh, Glasgow Central and Manchester Airport will run between Preston and Manchester Airport only

More ticket and travel advice can be found on the Network Rail website.

Immediately after the derailment, passengers were taken to the nearby Shap Wells Hotel.

They were then transferred to two coaches – one heading to London and the other going back up to Scotland.

All passengers were escorted off and taken to their onward destinations by 10:40 GMT on Monday, the train operator added.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said it was not the first time something like this had happened in his constituency.

Last year, there were delays after heavy rain caused a landslip on the same stretch of track.

He told BBC Radio Cumbria he was not “going to turn a blind eye” and the derailment should be a “massive wake up call” to the government and to Network Rail “to stop doing track maintenance north of Warrington and all the way through Cumbria and into Scotland on the cheap”.

“We have had too many of these things recently, two derailments in my own constituency in 18 months.

“I’m bound to be very concerned on behalf of our communities and indeed everybody else as a rail user.”

He said he would be raising the issue with the transport secretary and discussing the long-term infrastructure on the West Coast Mainline.

Network Rail said it was using track sensors, CCTV and a system that helps to detect movement when ground conditions change.

It said £30m was being spent on earthworks across Lancashire and Cumbria over the next four years “to stabilise embankments, track beds and cuttings”, as well as a wider £323m programme on the whole route.

Additional reporting by PA Media.