London Northwestern Railway to reinstate Trent Valley services following landslip

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) is reinstating its services to destinations along the Trent Valley this weekend following completion of repairs to an embankment.

After heavy rain during Storm Christoph left the ground unstable, Network Rail engineers have spent just over two weeks moving thousands of tonnes of earth on the West Coast Main Line at Hillmorton, near Rugby.

Due to the disruption caused by diversions and speed restrictions following the incident on 27 January, LNR temporarily withdrew its service between Crewe and London Euston for a fortnight.

Following industry discussions, LNR, Network Rail and Avanti West Coast agreed that Avanti trains would call additionally at Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth and Nuneaton during this period. With work now complete, services will revert to the previous timetable from tomorrow (Saturday 13 February).

Lawrence Bowman, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway, said:

“I would like to thank our customers making essential journeys for their patience and understanding while Network Rail carried out these important repairs.

“I am pleased we’re now able to reinstate our services at stations along the Trent Valley from this weekend. The response to this incident has been a great example of the rail industry working together in the best interests of passengers.”

This week Rugby MP Mark Pawsey visited the site to see the scale of the work undertaken by Network Rail engineers, which included:

• Rebuilding a 10-metres high and 40-metre embankment
• Laying 10,000 tonnes of new stone to improve drainage
• Installing new foundations and special pins to prevent future movement

Mark Pawsey, MP for Rugby, said:

"As someone who regularly uses the railway to travel between Rugby and London, I was keen to visit the site of the landslip and see for myself the progress being made to resolve this issue.

"It’s very impressive to see how swiftly Network Rail’s team have been able to restore the embankment, especially in the very challenging weather conditions of recent days."

Ellen Wintle, infrastructure director for Network Rail’s West Coast South route, said:

“I’m really proud of my team for working all hours to get this vital section of the West Coast Main Line secure and back up and running again for our passenger and freight customers.

“Because this landslip was spotted early we were able to control the damage and carry out repairs quickly, reducing the length of time passengers and freight would be disrupted.

"I thank people whose essential journeys were slightly longer during the work for their patience while we worked tireless to make the railway safe and secure again.”

Gus Dunster, executive director of operations and safety for Avanti West Coast, said:

"We would like to thank Network Rail’s team of engineers for working around the clock, in challenging weather conditions, to get the line reopened so quickly.

“We have worked hard with all our industry partners to keep delays and disruption to a minimum during these works, and we would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this time.”

A timelapse video of the repair work carried out by Network Rail can be viewed here.