Severe flooding and landslides disrupt rail network

Date: 29/6/2012

The rail network in Scotland and the north of England has been severely disrupted due to flooding, fire and landslides.

Among the places worst affected are the East Coast main line between Scotland and Newcastle where services have been suspended completely.

Other issues include the derailment of a freight train consisting of 24 wagons in the west Highlands close to Tulloch.

Landslips have also occurred due to the large quantities of rain falling in such a short space of time with one onto the tracks at Arrochar.

One train which was delayed by flooding in Cumbria then caught fire near Lockerbie and several hundred people were stuck for 15 hours on a train making its way from London to Glasgow.

While disruption remains on the East Coast main line it is thought that services on the West Coast main line have returned to normal after last night's problems.

Part of the unresolved problem remains a backlog of passengers waiting to travel from locations such as Glasgow Central station.

Nick King, of Network Rail, told BBC Radio Scotland that the issues were the result of the "sheer volume of water has overwhelmed embankments at certain points."

He said: "We had extra staff out through the night. We have more staff, and specialist staff on standby, ready to react and be called in at certain sites depending on the nature of the damage or the nature of the material needing cleared."

Two landslides in Northumberland resulted in the closure of the East Coast main line with one a little south of Berwick still not cleared.

Storm warnings had been issued before the torrential downpours occurred, but the UK rail network does not have the infrastructure in place in order to deal with such situations without disruption.

The wet weather followed intense humid conditions which broke when the storms hit, as the UK has been subject to more extreme weather recently.

Posted by Mary Treen

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