Floods shut railway for second time

Jun 29 2012

One of the main railways between Scotland and England has closed for the second time in 24 hours, as flooding brought chaos to the transport network.

Trains are unable to run between Glasgow and Carlisle on the West Coast mainline because of a problem with overhead wires. Buses are replacing trains between Carlisle and Glasgow.

Passengers can also get on trains between Carlisle and Newcastle, using the East Coast mainline. Services on the east side of the country are also running slowly because of flooding and a landslip near Berwick-upon-Tweed.

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

Some endured a 15-hour journey between London and Glasgow when their train was stranded by a landslide in the Lake District. The line reopened shortly before 2pm on Friday.

Susie Fraser, from Glasgow, told BBC Scotland she was stuck on a train for three hours and ended up abandoning it in Lancaster. "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," she said.

Hundreds of people endured an 11-hour journey from Birmingham to Glasgow because of a fire in the engine of the train, which forced an evacuation.

The 5.20pm Birmingham to Glasgow service, operated by Virgin, had to stop near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway at about 10.20pm on Thursday. The fire was at the front of the train and the passengers, around 500 of them, were moved to the back carriages and evacuated.

The Double Voyager, which comprises two trains, was then split in two and the passengers continued their journey to Glasgow in the back train whose engine was unaffected. They arrived in Glasgow at around 4am on Friday. Virgin said it was a minor engine fire and no one was injured.

Network Rail warned passengers to expect further delay and disruption. A spokesman for ScotRail said: "We are doing everything we possibly can to help our customers and have extra staff on hand to help at stations. Customers are advised to get up-to-date journey information before travelling."