Widespread rail disruption as work continues to fix damaged overhead wires

Severe disruption continues this evening on all London Midland trains following a day of travel chaos.

Train companies have all pulled together and agreed to carry one another’s customers as Network Rail worked to repair damaged overhead wires on the West Coast main line near Birmingham International station.

Virgin Trains, London Midland, CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways are accepting each others’ tickets to ease congestion at stations including London Euston, Coventry and Birmingham International.

More than 100 metres of overhead wires, which power electric trains, came down at 6.30am today. The cause is not yet confirmed.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Our engineers continue to work to fix this problem so we can get services back to normal.

“This is a big repair job which we expect to take until after 8pm this evening to complete.

“Until then we and our train company colleagues are doing our utmost to keep passengers on the move.”

Passengers have been inconvenienced throughout the day at the stations between and including Coventry and Birmingham International, and as far afield as Edinburgh, North Wales and Southampton.

With only half the normal number of Birmingham-bound trains currently running from Euston - three an hour instead of six - these services and the station itself will be busier than normal this evening.

To help keep people on the move, London Midland and Virgin customers are being urged to consider travelling from Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street with Chiltern Railways.

London Midland also has cross-ticket acceptance with East Midland Trains for passengers south of Rugby, Warwickshire.

Passengers can get the latest travel information at www.nationalrail.co.uk.