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Friday 29 Nov 2024

Passengers warned of railway closure in Cumbria for Storm Bert flooding recovery

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

There will be no trains between Lancaster and Barrow-In-Furness from Tuesday until Thursday next week while essential repairs are carried out in Ulverston. 

Network Rail engineers have been working around the clock this week to repair damage caused by flooding during Storm Bert. 

Last weekend (23 – 24 November) Storm Bert brought strong winds, snow, and extreme rainfall to Cumbria. With a rise in temperature on Saturday morning, the snow melted and overwhelmed a watercourse which broke its bank and damaged the earth of the nearby railway cutting. 

The earth from the cutting collapsed onto the tracks, and about 300 tonnes of spoil had to be removed from the railway. 

Engineers reopened the line on Tuesday morning, and began work to carry out a permanent fix to the site. 

In recent days, the team have built an 130 metre long "water slide" to divert the watercourse's journey around the cutting.

With the water flowing nicely through its new channel, work to repair the cutting can now begin. 

Chris Pye, Network Rail's North West route infrastructure director, said: "We are very sorry to passengers travelling between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster whose journeys have been disrupted by the flooding damage at Ulverston.

"We've been working hard to plan the repairs to the site. So we can carry out this work safely and efficiently, the line needs to close between Lancaster and Barrow-In-Furness from Tuesday 3 until Thursday  7 December.

"Thank you to our passengers for your understanding while we carry out this essential work."

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “We apologise to customers for the disruption to their journeys whilst Network Rail carries out this essential safety work to strengthen the embankment at Ulverston.

"We will continue to do all that we can to get people where they want to be during this work and look forward to resuming services along the line very soon.”

Passengers who want to travel between Lancaster and Barrow-In-Furness should check www.nationalrail.co.uk before starting their journey. A rail replacement bus service will run between Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness and other details

Once the railway is closed, engineers will bring in heavy machinery and materials to repair the cutting. Once this is complete the temporary watercourse can be removed and water can safely flow along the original, reinforced channel.