West Coast Main Line blocked – major incident declared

A train has derailed at Shap, the highest point on the West Coast Main Line in England, Europe’s busiest mixed traffic route. News of the incident came through at around 06:30 this morning (Monday, 3 November). Reports say that both tracks are blocked by the incident, with disruption expected throughout Monday. That means that both the West and the East Coast Main Lines are currently disrupted by incidents.

The West Coast Main Line derailment was upgraded to a “Major Incident” at 08:00. It’s understood that the first southbound passenger service of the day, the 0428 Avanti West Coast service from Glasgow Central to London Euston, derailed at Shap, the highest point on the English railway network. The location was recently in the news for a reactivated rail connection to a local quarry. There are disruptions to both passenger and freight services. 

Avoid travel

The official National Rail Enquiries service issued a statement, with instructions to would-be passengers, encouraging them to avoid travel or to re-route via the East Coast. However, there is still some disruption on that route (north from London King’s Cross) where a train is detained in Huntingdon station – after a security incident on Saturday, which sparked a huge emergency. That incident, involving a mass stabbing, is still under investigation.

Avanti West Coast, the long-distance passenger operator on the line, issued a statement saying that all lines are blocked north of Preston. “Due to a derailed train between Penrith North Lakes and Oxenholme Lake District. Please do not attempt to travel north of Preston today.” The WCML is due to be closed early next year for a bridge replacement not far south of today’s accident location. 

Freight issues

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was already on duty responding to media requests connected with the Huntingdon stabbing attack. She issued a statement at 08:10, saying that there were no fatalities involved in the incident at Shap. However, she did not comment on the implications for freight operations.

Although the northern section of the route is not the busiest part of the West Coast Main Line, it is still heavily trafficked. Freight services use the route, particularly for high-speed intermodal services. As these are generally electrically hauled, the options are limited for diversion. The obvious alternative, the Settle and Carlisle line, which runs parallel to the WCML, is not electrified and is subject to capacity constraints. 

Earlier this year, a quarry at Shap was reconnected to the railway network to help serve a contract to supply aggregates to projects in Liverpool. The West Coast Main Line is 400 miles (640 kilometres) long between London Euston and Glasgow, with several branch lines to major cities, including Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh.