Thursday 10 Mar 2016
West Coast main line returning to normal after record river levels contribute to flood delays
- Region & Route:
- | North West & Central
The West Coast main line is returning to normal today (Thursday) after floods caused severe delays yesterday.
The River Avon at Rugby recorded its highest ever level at 10pm on Wednesday (9 March), peaking at 3.6m, following heavy rain. This beat the previous high of 3.53m in April 1998.
Localised flooding occurs if the river hits 1.08m. Levels rose significantly throughout yesterday. At 6am the river was at 1m and by 6pm that depth had more than tripled.
Several sections of railway flooded, including two tunnels south of Rugby, which were continuously pumped out by Network Rail’s orange army for several hours. More than 50 men and women from Network Rail were on the ground to pump water away from the affected areas and carry out essential safety checks. Temporary speed restrictions were put in place to keep trains running safely through the affected locations.
Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “The heavy rain overnight and throughout the early hours caused levels of the River Avon to rise to record levels and several sections of the railway were flooded. Our engineers were out in force with equipment to pump water away from the tracks and keep trains moving as best as possible.”
Contrary to reports, Euston station was extremely busy but British Transport Police were not required to form human barriers.
Passengers can check the latest travel information at www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
07740 782954
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk