Broken rail brings delays and diversions to West Midlands trains
Train passengers faced disruption today due to a broken rail on the Birmingham to Shrewsbury line.
Services were delayed, diverted and cancelled as a result of the damaged track, although the worst of the disruption was over by early afternoon.
The broken rail is at Dudley Port, where trains were restricted to 5mph throughout the morning and to 20mph from 3pm.
The Birmingham to Shrewsbury line was one of several routes disrupted throughout the morning after the broken rail was spotted at around 9am.
West Midlands Railway said services were likely to be changed at short notice for the rest of the day, with congestion building as a result of the speed restriction.
However, most services were running as planned by the early afternoon and any delays later in the day were expected to be limited to five or 10 minutes.
Routes affected by the disruption include:
West Midlands Railway between Walsall and Wolverhampton and between Birmingham New Street and Shrewsbury
CrossCountry between Southampton Central / Bournemouth / Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly
London Northwestern Railway between Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street
Transport for Wales between Birmingham International and Holyhead / Aberystwyth
Virgin Trains between London Euston and Glasgow Central / Edinburgh
Chelsea Green, a Network Rail spokeswoman, said: "A broken rail was discovered in the Dudley Port area this morning, impacting services between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
"The line was closed to allow our engineers to clamp the rail, enabling services to resume at around 11.30am at a reduced speed.
"Although the line is reopen there is still some subsequent disruption while services return to normal.
"We would like to thank passengers for bearing with us and ask that they check before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk"
Anyone delayed as a result of the disruption may be entitled to compensation and National Rail have advised people to keep their train ticket and make a note of their journey, as both will be needed to support a claim.
Services scheduled to leave New Street for Wolverhampton at 57 minutes past each hour were diverted via Bescot instead of Wolverhampton, while travellers were encouraged to use West Midlands Metro trams.
