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Monday 19 Mar 2018

Passenger services return to the Felixstowe branch line following level crossing damage

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Rail passenger services have returned to the Felixstowe branch line today (Monday 19 March) ahead of schedule, following repairs at a level crossing where a car was hit by a freight train.

On Wednesday 14 March, a freight train collided with a car at Routs crossing near Nacton. The signalling equipment and the level crossing were significantly damaged in the incident, and as a result passenger services were cancelled. A limited freight service ran to service the port, under manual signalling.

Network Rail engineers worked around the clock since to carry out the repairs as quickly as possible in order to get passenger services back up and running. A full freight and passenger service has resumed.

Rupert Lown, Network Rail’s director of safety for Anglia, said: “This was a serious incident and our thoughts are with the driver of the vehicle. Our engineers have worked around the clock to carry out the necessary repairs to the signalling equipment and the level crossing in order to get passenger services back to normal on this line. I’d like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding while we carried out these repairs.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: "We'd like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused during recent disruption on the Felixstowe line. We're very pleased that Network Rail engineers have worked hard so that we were able to run our trains in time for the start of a new working week."