Media centre

Sunday 26 Feb 2017

Line to stay closed after full extent of Storm Doris damage is revealed

Region & Route:

A rail line in Wales is to stay closed after the full extent of damage caused by Storm Doris was revealed.

Engineers have been working to repair the line and the surrounding embankment after a large tree fell onto the track between Llanrwst and Blaenau Ffestiniog last week.

But repair work - which has been taking place throughout the weekend - has unveiled an unstable rock formation directly next to the track which will require additional work to secure and means it is unsafe to reopen the line to trains on Monday (27 Feb) as originally planned.

Passengers are advised that Arriva Trains Wales will continue to operate a shuttle train service between Llandudno Junction and North Llanrwst with a bus replacement service in place between Llanrwst North and Blaenau Ffestiniog.

When weather conditions improve and it becomes safe to access the site, further surveys - including by Network Rail’s Air Operation team - will be carried out, with updates on when the line may be able to reopen to come early next week.

Andy Thomas, route managing director for Wales, said: “Passenger safety is our absolute priority and our repairs have revealed significant damage to the embankment which only became apparent when work started. We are working with Arriva Trains Wales to minimise the disruption to passengers, and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. We will provide more updates on when the line can reopen in the coming days when the weather conditions improve.”