Media centre

Friday 12 Aug 2005

APOLOGY FOR TRAIN DELAYS

Region & Route:

Network Rail has apologised to passengers for delays to trains yesterday (Thursday 11 August) on the west coast main line between Preston and Carlisle following a fire in the early hours of the morning. The fire started shortly before 2 am in the Milnthorpe area south of Oxenholme on an engineering train known as a ‘tamper’ which was being towed from Carlisle to Manchester. The fire meant that 350 yards of overhead power lines had to be replaced, as did six concrete sleepers that were shattered by the heat, and a length of rail that distorted. A special method of operating trains through the area known as ‘single line working’ was introduced. Similar to the way that a single carriageway is used in road works, it allowed trains to pass the affected site while engineers worked to repair the track and power lines. Work carried on all day and was eventually completed just before 7 pm but it meant that throughout the day nearly 60 trains were either cancelled fully or did not complete their entire journey and dozens of others were delayed by up to an hour each. An investigation has been launched to find out how the fire started.