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Friday 26 Jul 2019

While some disruption remains, rail services expected to return to normal this evening

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

Network Rail today said sorry to passengers following yesterday’s disruption caused by the hot weather and advised people to check before they travel as services return to normal.

Teams of Network Rail engineers worked tirelessly yesterday and overnight to repair damage at several locations which caused significant disruption to passengers and journeys.

Speed restrictions were introduced as temperatures rose in excess of 36°C across the country – with temperatures reaching over 38°C in Cambridge.

Track temperatures rose too - up to 20°C higher than the air temperature - and overhead power lines, which keep electric trains moving, suffered at the hands of the extreme weather.

As well as overhead line problems at Northumberland Park, there was a points failure at Clapton junction and a track circuit failure at Bethnal Green. These incidents caused disruption for passengers travelling from and to Liverpool Street last night and into this morning.

Mark Budden, chief operating officer at Network Rail Anglia, said: "I want to say sorry to passengers for the disruption and discomfort they faced making their journeys yesterday and this morning, while we worked hard with train operators to get people moving again.

"Hundreds of staff were out yesterday and last night fixing the damage and repairing the railway, ready for today. While trains are running this morning, we are advising passengers to check with their train operators or the National Rail Enquiries website before travelling.”

Martin Moran, Greater Anglia commerical and customer service director said: “We’re so sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers yesterday by the heat-related disruption. We’d like to thank them for their patience and remind them they can claim delay repay compensation for delays to their journey of more than 15 minutes.”