Landslide causes train derailment in Cumbria

Date: 30/8/2012

A landslide in Cumbria caused an early morning train carrying 100 passengers to leave the tracks today, though nobody was injured in the incident.

The two-carriage train was on its way to the Sellafield nuclear plant when it derailed at St Bees, but managed to stay upright as opposed to tipping over.

Many of those onboard were workers at the plant and a second train was sent to the scene of the incident in order to rescue the stranded passengers.

This also encountered a landslide and was forced to retrace its route to Nethertown, leaving passengers to be taken to the nearest road to complete their journey.

The line has remained closed as emergency services and Network Rail deal with the scene, removing rubble, returning the train to the rails and carrying out any necessary repairs to the track.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: "Following a landslip on to the railway near St Bees, buses are replacing trains between Whitehaven and Sellafield. Approximately 100 passengers have been removed from a train which ran into the landslip at 6.45am, derailing the front set of wheels."

Cumbria was particularly badly hit after a night of heavy rain hit the west of the country with reports that vehicles in the Egremont area ended up partly under water.

A nearby bridge was closed by police who were concerned about its stability, as the White Mare pub right next to it was completely flooded.

A Cumbria fire service spokesman said: "Cumbria county council's emergency planning team have been setting up some emergency accommodation for people. I know that roads around St Bees have been affected by the landslide there. "

The river Ehen had burst its banks along with a number of becks in the Egremont area and the drains were unable to cope with the sheer amount of water.

The spokesman said: "We had in excess of 100 calls related to the flooding in a period of just two hours overnight.

"I know that this morning things are now calming down as far as the flooding goes. We have a number of fire engines at the scene of the train derailment but there are no rescues to be made."

Posted by Mary Treen

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