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Wednesday 15 Aug 2018

Cross City line south to remain closed while trees and embankment are made safe

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

The Cross City line between Birmingham New Street, Longbridge, Redditch and Bromsgrove will remain closed until further notice while engineers remove trees and make safe an embankment.

In the last 24 hours, two trees have fallen onto the line, badly damaging overhead power lines, and a section of the embankment, north of University station, has become unstable.

For safety reasons, the railway will remain closed while repairs taken place.

The cause of the earth movement remains under investigation.

James Dean, chief operating officer for Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: “We are doing all we can to remove the at-risk trees and make the embankment safe as quickly as possible. The embankment is very wet, which appears to have caused the issues, and we are investigating the cause of this.

“Safety is paramount and the decision to keep the railway closed has not been made lightly. Passengers can be assured we will fully reopen the Cross City line as quickly as possible and I’d urge them to check before they travel for the latest information.”

Richard Brooks, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway said: "As we are now not expecting services to resume today we would advise customers to plan an alternative route this afternoon and allow extra time for their journey. We apologise for the disruption and urge anyone who has been affected to claim compensation through delay repay."

The first tree fell late on Tuesday morning (14 August) and damaged the overhead power lines. Repairs were made and the line reopened late on Tuesday night – only for a second tree to fall and damage the power lines again shortly afterwards. Further repairs were made overnight and a survey first thing this morning revealed earth movement on the embankment.

West Midlands Railway tickets are being accepted on local National Express West Midlands bus services between Birmingham New Street and Longbridge. Rail replacement buses are in operation for stations between Longbridge and Redditch / Bromsgrove.

Trains between Birmingham New Street and Hereford are being diverted in both directions and are not calling at University. Trains between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield will run as booked.

Anyone affected by these changes should claim for compensation through delay repay.

For service updates follow @WestMidRailway on Twitter or check www.nationalrail.co.uk.