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West Coast rail line blocked between Carlisle and Lancaster

Unfortunately there has been a serious derailment in the Lake District closing all lines. No reported injuries.

Updates later.

Posted by
10722 posts

Cumbria Ambulance and Fire services have now stood down from the scene, with all passengers safely evacuated to the Shap Wells Hotel, for road transport forward. Only the front 1st class coach of the 0428 Glasgow to Euston derailed near Shap summit (South of Penrith) due to a currently unknown cause.
Services are running from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Carlisle, and buses are reportedly being sourced to fill the gap to Preston.
Leeds to Carlisle and Newcastle to Carlisle trains are running, as is the Cumbria coast on a restricted timetable due to the Bransty tunnel closure.
Hopefully by Wednesday night when I travel back north on the last train of the night (1724 from Hereford to Carlisle) the line is reopened
The 11 car Pendolino 390117 is the derailed unit.

There were 85 passengers in total on the train.

Posted by
35929 posts

it is reported that 4 people received minor injuries when the train hit a landslide.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson is quoted as The incident is likely to cause "significant disruption to our network for a number of days"

Posted by
10722 posts

Tickets for today and tomorrow can be used at any time until close of service on Friday.
Until services resume for Oxenholme use Northern services every 3 hours from Preston , or Northern to Carnforth hourly then buses 555 or 755 at own cost to Kendal and the Lake District.
For Penrith use other routes to Carlisle then bus 104 every 30 minutes at own cost. For Keswick use bus 554 direct from Carlisle if the timings are right.

Posted by
10722 posts

It is now confirmed that the line will remain closed throughout Tuesday. It is intended that hourly replacement buses will run express and all stations, but as I write it is proving "challenging" to source enough vehicles.

UPDATE - Tuesday morning - Trans Pennine are now able to run some trains from Scotland as far as Penrith, and some of their trains from Liverpool and Manchester Airport are now running north of Preston to Lancaster and Oxenholme.
The red do not travel warning remains in place, but the situation is starting to ease a bit.

In awful weather the train was removed from site overnight and the overhead electric wires repaired. Earthworks on the landslide are now ongoing.