Tens of thousands delayed by rail power failure

Passengers on the busiest rail line in Britain faced significant disruptions to their commute due to a power line failure.

On Sunday afternoon, more than 100 West Coast Main Line trains going into and out of London Euston were cancelled when damaged overhead wires blocked the tracks at Watford Junction.

Following a plane crash in Staffordshire close to line on Friday, the problems on Sunday were the third consecutive days that passengers on the route experienced service disruptions.

According to a spokesman for Network Rail, engineers were working on the power lines but that it was not known how long service would be affected.

Commuters are hoping that last year’s chaos after the New Year is not repeated. Engineering work was not completed on key rail sections during the scheduled holiday shutdown last year, and disruptions lasted well beyond the planned shutdown.

A Virgin Trains spokesman, Arthur Leafley, said that services on Monday morning would “likely” which would disrupt the commute of thousands heading back to work after the Christmas holiday period. He added: “It is likely that the disruption will affect services in the morning but the picture is not yet clear.”

After the damage was reported to rail engineers at 3:30pm, some local trains at Euston were cancelled.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.networkrail.co.uk