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Wednesday 7 Dec 2022

Railway reopens after major Wolverhampton warehouse fire

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: Central

Passengers are being thanked for their patience after a key rail route was forced to close due to a major warehouse fire in Wolverhampton.

Network Rail engineers worked throughout the night to inspect overhead lines which power trains and assist in the demolition of an unstable wall at the neighbouring building which was gutted in the blaze.

It broke out at 9pm on Monday 5 December at Lower Horseley Fields and meant the Stour line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton had to be closed all day yesterday (Tuesday 6 December).

But thanks to the effort of railway staff working closely with West Midlands Fire Service passengers were back on the move between the two cities from start of service this morning (Wednesday 7 December).

Pictures and video have also been released showing work to bring down the unstable structure so the railway could reopen.

Martin Colmey, Network Rail’s Central route operations director, said: “I’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we had to close the railway for their safety during this major incident. With the blaze within metres of the railway we had no choice but to close the line.

“Where possible we tried to keep as many services running through diversions but I appreciate travel for people would have been very challenging yesterday. Thankfully the route is now reopen thanks to the hard work of railway staff and West Midlands Fire Service who fought the flames and protected our key infrastructure from any serious damage.”

Passengers are reminded that the best place to get live updates during periods of unexpected disruption is the @NationalRailEnq Twitter feed, or by using the journey planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest travel information.