Landslides disrupt rail services

Jun 29 2012

Passengers travelling between England and Scotland have endured nightmare rail journeys after severe weather and an engine fire caused major disruption.

Landslides in the Lake District and the Highlands caused delays and cancellations as torrential downpours battered the country.

Some endured a 15-hour journey between London and Glasgow after their train was stranded following a landslide in the Lake District.

Susie Fraser, from Glasgow, told BBC Scotland she was stuck on a train for three hours, before abandoning it in Lancaster. She said: "It was total chaos, there were some very upset children on that train. It is quite humid, obviously, there's lots of thunderstorms, so it was very uncomfortable."

Gerry Hassan tweeted: "15.5 hrs from London to Glasgow, flooding, landslides & fire. When we had to climb out of the train and leave all our bags (which we got back) I thought I have seen this disaster movie. Staff were v helpful & I have lots of new friends."

Hundreds of passengers endured an 11-hour journey from Birmingham to Glasgow after a fire in the engine of their train forced an evacuation. The 5.20pm Birmingham to Glasgow service, operated by Virgin Trains, had to stop near Moffat, in Dumfries and Galloway, at about 10.20pm on Thursday.

The fire was isolated to the front of the train, and the passengers, around 500, were moved to the rear before an emergency evacuation took place. The Double Voyager train, which comprises two trains, was then split in two and the passengers continued their journey to Glasgow in the rear train, whose engine was not affected. They arrived in Glasgow at around 4am on Friday.

Two landslides and a freight train derailment also caused disruption in the Highlands. The 24-wagon train came off the tracks near Tulloch just after 7pm on Thursday following a landslide, blocking the West Highland line between Crianlarich and Mallaig.

Flooding and a landslip are continuing to cause disruption near Berwick-upon-Tweed. Network Rail said there are no trains running on the East Coast or CrossCountry lines between Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed, and there are no replacement bus services.

A normal service is in operation south of Newcastle, while a shuttle train service is running between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh calling at Dunbar.