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Thursday 15 Mar 2018

Felixstowe branch line to remain closed while repairs take place at level crossing

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

The Felixstowe branch line will remain closed to passenger services until early next week, following a collision between a car and freight train that also damaged the signalling equipment and level crossing.

At approximately 8:20pm on Wednesday 14 March, a freight train collided with a car at Routs crossing near Nacton.

The train and car were removed this morning and Network Rail engineers are working to carry out repairs to the equipment and level crossing as soon as possible, after which there will be a period of testing the equipment. The extent of the damage and the repair work required means passenger services will not be reintroduced until early next week. Manual signalling is in place to allow a very limited freight service to run to the port.

A rail replacement bus service is running between Felixstowe and Ipswich and passengers can also use Greater Anglia tickets on First 75, 76, 77 and X7 bus services. 

Rupert Lown, Network Rail’s director of safety for Anglia, said: “This was a serious incident and our first thoughts are with the driver of the vehicle. The collision also caused extensive damage to the signalling system and the level crossing itself and the line is closed to passengers services as a result.

"Our engineers will be working as quickly as possible to return services to normal but we estimate that this will take until early next week to fully complete. We are assisting the British Transport Police, ORR and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch with their investigations.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: "We'd like to apologise to any customers affected by disruption on the Felixstowe line. We will still make sure that they can complete their journey, even if part of it is by bus."