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West Coast Main Line: Network Rail hopes for rush-hour reopening West Coast Main Line: Services resume
(about 5 hours later)
The West Coast Main Line, shut between Milton Keynes and Northampton after overhead wires were damaged overnight, could reopen for the rush hour. The West Coast Main Line has re-opened after damage to overhead wires shut the line between Milton Keynes and Northampton.
This should enable a near-full service to operate, Network Rail said. The incident at the Hanslope Junction near Wolverton in Buckinghamshire had disrupted services out of London Euston since 05:00 GMT.
The slow line at Hanslope Junction near Wolverton in Buckinghamshire where overhead lines came down will open for diesel trains only, a spokesman said. Network Rail said it gave the all clear for lines to reopen from 16:15 GMT.
Repairs will be carried out on Saturday night as weekend services can run with the lines available, he said. There will be residual delays because trains have been in the wrong place.
A spokesman said repairs would be carried out on Saturday night as weekend services were able to run with the lines available.
"Waiting until Saturday night means we can take advantage of the reduced Sunday service level to do the work without disruption," he added."Waiting until Saturday night means we can take advantage of the reduced Sunday service level to do the work without disruption," he added.
Virgin Trains services across England and into Scotland are affected with delays of up to 30 minutes, according to the company.
London Midland said some journey times remained extended by up to two hours.
A full list of affected routes and replacement bus services can be found on the National Rail Enquiries website.A full list of affected routes and replacement bus services can be found on the National Rail Enquiries website.
The problems are disrupting trains between London and the Midlands and the direct Rugby to Milton Keynes route. Virgin said passengers could use their tickets on href="http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa7e46e0bd204cc09c51a2b2c7a9ce80/details.html" >other operators services along certain routes.
Tickets honoured
Virgin said passengers could use their tickets on other operators services along certain routes.
London Midland said services on the line between Northampton and Milton Keynes would be delayed all day, but trains north of Northampton were still running subject to delays and cancellations.
The company is also running a two-trains-an-hour shuttle service between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston in each direction.
A replacement bus service is in operation between Rugby, Northampton and Milton Keynes Central. Buses are also taking passengers between Milton Keynes Central and Luton Airport Parkway; and between Northampton and Wellingborough to connect to East Midland Trains and First Capital Connect services.
London Midland said their tickets would be honoured by passengers going on to use Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, East Midlands Trains (between Sheffield, Wellingborough and London St Pancras International), First Capital Connect, First Great Western and Southern.
Network Rail said a train pantograph, which connects a train with the overhead lines, became tangled with the wires at a junction and the cables were damaged.
Unions blame cuts
"At around 05:00 GMT on Friday the overhead wires on the West Coast Main Line, just north of Milton Keynes (at Hanslope Junction), suffered damage blocking all four lines," a spokesman said.
"An empty train, moving into position for the morning peak is currently entangled in wires that have come down.
"Network Rail engineers are currently on site and hope to restore two of the four lines by lunchtime with the aim of restoring all lines tomorrow following overnight work."
The RMT and TSSA unions questioned the adequacy of staffing levels following the incident and two more in the past three weeks when lines came down at Radlett in Hertfordshire and St Neots in Cambridgeshire.
RMT leader Bob Crow called for "cuts to staffing and to overhead line capacity to be reversed".
TSSA leader Manuel Cortes, said: "This is the third week running that we have had major disruption on either the East or West Coast main lines because of problems with overhead power lines.
"We have to ask ourselves if Network Rail has cut back too far on maintenance spending in the past five years, and whether rail regulators and ministers are right to press it for further cutbacks of up to 19% over the next five years.
"These cuts are leading to a second-class railway for passengers who already pay the highest fares in Europe. They should be stopped immediately."
In answer to the unions a spokesperson for Network Rail said: "Network Rail's priority is to run a safe, reliable railway and we continuously monitor our infrastructure for signs of wear and tear so we can fix them before they cause disruption to passengers.
"The number of overhead line problems causing serious disruption on the railway has dropped by almost a quarter in the last two years.
"This is thanks to a rigorous maintenance regime and the hard work of our staff, who are often out in all weathers in the small hours of the morning."