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Rush-hour train services halted on key east coast route Fallen cable cuts London-Scotland train service to ribbons
(about 3 hours later)
Rail passengers on the east coast mainline are facing severe disruption after overhead line problems caused major delays. Thousands of passengers are embroiled in travel chaos after a kilometre of overhead cable came down across the east coast mainline and brought train services between London and Scotland to a virtual standstill.
No trains could run between London and Peterborough during the morning rush hour on the key London-to-Scotland route. Network Rail engineers have been working on repairs since the incident at around 9pm on Tuesday that caused the long stretch of cable to fall over four tracks on the main travel artery between London, Yorkshire and Scotland.
There were reports that scores of passengers had been left stranded at King's Cross station, in London, overnight after the last train to Leeds was cancelled. A Network Rail spokesman said: "Our engineers have worked through the night to carry out the repairs and continue to work on the affected section of railway, but the scale of the problem means no trains will be able to run through this section until midday at least, when a diesel-only service will be able to operate."
One passenger told the BBC travellers had been put on a coach to Peterborough at 3.40am but it had been involved in a minor accident in Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire. No electric trains are able to travel on the line but First Capital Connect are currently running two diesel-powered trains per hour to Biggleswade, where passengers are then able to travel the 36 miles to Peterborough by bus. Trains are then running from Peterborough but the rail replacement will extend journey times by around an hour.
Some of those stranded are thought to have been Arsenal supporters on their way home from their club's Champions League match with Bayern Munich. East Coast advised passengers to delay their journey: "East Coast services are currently starting from, and terminating at, Peterborough. Our advice to passengers travelling to or from stations south of Peterborough, including London King's Cross, is to defer journeys until tomorrow, when tickets dated for travel today will be accepted.
The latest overhead line problem is at St Neots, in Cambridgeshire, and is affecting a number of train companies. "In addition, East Coast tickets are being accepted via alternative routes to London, including on East Midlands Trains' services via Sheffield, and on Virgin West Coast services.
On First Capital Connect, buses replaced trains between Biggleswade and Peterborough, with journey times extended by up to 60 minutes. "All ticket restrictions on East Coast trains have been lifted for the remainder of today. We apologise to all passengers affected by this disruption."
Grand Central and First Hull Trains' services were unable to run between Peterborough and King's Cross but it was hoped that a limited East Coast service would be able to operate between Peterborough and King's Cross after 9.30am. The overhead cable hit a train at St Neots in Cambridgeshire at around 3.40am on Wednesday. The train was stopped and its passengers were moved on to a bus to take them to Peterborough.
Bob Crow, leader of the RMT transport union, said: "We have been raising serious concerns about the shortage of overhead line (OHL) crew and capacity on Britain's railways for a number of years now. But their misfortune deepened when the bus crashed into the central reservation of the A1 near Buckden. Fowler's Travel confirmed it was the company that provided the replacement bus but would not comment further as the incident was "still under investigation".
"We repeated those points only last week when the lines came down at Radlett, and now, just days later, we have another massive OHL failure on our hands. We cannot carry on like this." The last mainline train leaving London's King's Cross station on Tuesday night was cancelled and approximately 100 people slept on the train with blankets provided by the train company East Coast. Other passengers were put up in a hotel overnight.
He added: "The chaos on services, hitting hundreds of thousands due to cancellations out of central London as a result of the lines down overnight, reinforces RMT's demand for a full review of OHL maintenance and emergency staffing numbers and capacity to cope with this growing infrastructure issue and a massive backlog of essential works." A spokesman for the RMT transport union said: "Last night was total chaos up there. This is what's going to happen and carry on happening.
"There's a massive backlog of maintenance on the overhead cabling, massive shortage of staff because of 20% cuts in the maintenance capacity. We've got ageing overhead cable stock at a time when there's not enough staff to do the routine maintenance."