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Friday 13 Mar 2020

Cross City line fully reopens after fallen tree pulls down overhead power lines

Region & Route:

North West & Central

The Cross City line between Lichfield Trent Valley and Birmingham New Street is fully open after a fallen tree tore down overhead power lines earlier this week.

Network Rail's engineers worked round-the-clock from Wednesday night to yesterday evening to clear the tree, fix the damaged wires, test them and safely reopen the railway as quickly as possible. 

The tree fell onto the railway from neighbouring land near Wylde Green station at around 11.30pm on Wednesday (11 March), pulling down the overhead power lines as it fell. This resulted in the line being closed between Lichfield and New Street until around 6.30pm yesterday.

Dave Penney, Network Rail’s Central route director, said: “I am sorry for the disruption caused to journeys throughout yesterday. Clearing the tree from the line was not the challenge, it was repairing the overhead lines which were pulled down as it fell onto the tracks. We did all we could to fix them and reopen the railway as quickly as possible.

“While the tree fell from a neighbouring property, this type of incident highlights why we carry out vegetation management on our land to reduce the chances of passengers being disrupted like this. I want to thank everyone affected for their patience.”

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway, said: “We thank our customers for their patience and understanding while Network Rail engineers cleared the fallen tree and repaired the damaged overhead wires.

“Anyone whose journey was delayed by 15 minutes or more can claim compensation via the Delay Repay scheme.”

Passengers can get the latest information at www.nationalrail.co.uk or to claim Delay Repay from West Midlands Railway visit www.wmr.uk/delayrepay.