Media centre

Thursday 4 Feb 2016

Leighton Buzzard railway to fully reopen on Friday

Region & Route:

National

| North West & Central

After round-the-clock repairs to fix a bank slip near Leighton Buzzard, the railway is due to fully reopen on Friday.

Network Rail’s orange army has carried out extensive repairs to the bank slip which has affected trains in the Leighton Buzzard area since last weekend. 

Engineers have worked 24 hours a day to rebuild the embankment as well as future-proof it to minimise the chances of further slips.

Because of its location, a temporary access road had to be built across nearby fields before 2,200 tonnes of stone and material could be delivered to fix the slip. Engineers will continue to work throughout today and tonight so the railway can reopen for the start of service tomorrow morning.

Mark Killick, area director for Network Rail, said: “Our focus from the very start has been to get a full service back up and running for passengers as quickly and as safely as possible. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while the repairs have taken place and reassure them that we’re doing everything possible to fully reopen the railway on Friday morning."

“This has been a hugely challenging task made even more difficult by its location. Once the temporary access road was built and we could access the area, we pulled out all the stops to repair the section of slipped embankment so we can reopen the railway as quickly as possible. The team on the ground have done themselves proud with a great job in tough conditions.

London Midland’s head of West Coast Services, Alan Giles, said: “I would like to thank our passengers for their patience and understanding while the repairs have been taking place. London Midland’s priority was to make travel as simple as possible for our passengers during the disruption. We put in an emergency timetable and train companies accepted each other’s tickets. The landslide was unexpected and we worked quickly to provide our passengers with as much information as we could.”

Passengers can get the very latest travel information at:

- www.nationalrail.co.uk  
- www.londonmidland.com/landslip  
- www.virgintrains.co.uk  
- www.southernrailway.com  

For pictures and information from site, passengers can follow @NetworkRailEUS (Euston station) or @NetworkRailBHM (Birmingham New Street station) on twitter.