Opening date for rail crash line

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/cumbria/6431919.stm

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The section of the West Coast Main Line shut since the train crash in Cumbria is set to be reopened on Monday, Network Rail has announced.

The route, north of Lancaster to Scotland, has been shut since the crash on 23 February. One person died in the accident and 20 were injured.

More than 300 engineers have been at the site at Grayrigg, near Kendal.

The operation to remove the wreckage of the Virgin Pendolino involved building two new roads.

Engineers used 22,000 tonnes of stone to rebuild the embankment and almost a kilometre of track was replaced along with more than 600 metres of overhead power lines.

'Rebuild confidence'

John Armitt, chief executive of Network Rail, said thorough testing of the repaired signalling system would take most of the weekend to complete.

He said: "Our people have been working around the clock to repair the damage and reopen the railway as quickly as possible.

"The line is now planned to reopen for the first service in the early morning of Monday."

The first northbound passenger service will be the 0510 GMT from Manchester Piccadilly to Glasgow Central, and the first southbound service the 0609 GMT from Carlisle to Euston.

Virgin West Coast managing director Charles Belcher said: "I welcome the reopening of the West Coast Main Line following the tragic accident at Grayrigg, enabling us to restore direct Anglo-Scottish services for our customers.

"We now need to work hard to rebuild confidence in the railway industry."