Voyager 220007 was badly damaged by fire whilst stabled at Eastleigh over the weekend. Whilst the extent of the fire is not known unconfirmed reports say that one driving car is completely burnt out, whilst the adjacent carriage is 20% damaged.
Two spare driving cars exist - from 221144, but these are leased by Virgin Trains.
Was the damage vandalism or a technical fault ?
A major landslip has blocked a railway line causing disruption to services between Banbury and Leamington Spa.
Network Rail had hoped to reopen the line by Tuesday but later said it would stay shut for at least a week while 350,000 tonnes of material are removed.
The landslip has occurred near Harbury Tunnel in Warwickshire
(02/02/2015 07:46)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]A major landslip has blocked a railway line causing disruption to services between Banbury and Leamington Spa.
Network Rail had hoped to reopen the line by Tuesday but later said it would stay shut for at least a week while 350,000 tonnes of material are removed.
The landslip has occurred near Harbury Tunnel in Warwickshire
No diversionary route for passenger trains. The West London Line will be busy with additional freight.
(02/02/2015 08:10)childwallblues Wrote: [ -> ]No diversionary route for passenger trains. The West London Line will be busy with additional freight.
Chiltern who share this line with Cross Country say on their website that the line will be closed until at least 15th February and unofficially I hear it may be the end of the month. Hourly buses are running between Leamington and Banbury. Chiltern particularly will be feeling some pain from this. They compete aggressively with Virgin for the Birmingham to London business. They are a bit slower but their fares are a lot cheaper.
This particulary looks worse than the one in East Yorkshire .
That was caused by a man made coal heap that had grassed over but eventually became unstable , this one looks like an entire cutting side is now unstable , it maybe that when finished the area around the tunnel entrance doesn't look like it does now .
I also think Network Rail may have to look at the other side of the railway line the side when you look from the aerial views that looks like there is houses to see if the embankment on that side of the line is stable and performing its job.
(06/02/2015 07:40)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]This particulary looks worse than the one in East Yorkshire .
That was caused by a man made coal heap that had grassed over but eventually became unstable , this one looks like an entire cutting side is now unstable , it maybe that when finished the area around the tunnel entrance doesn't look like it does now .
I also think Network Rail may have to look at the other side of the railway line the side when you look from the aerial views that looks like there is houses to see if the embankment on that side of the line is stable and performing its job.
Heard today that NR have not yet started to remove the spoil as the earth is still moving! Looks like a long closure.
I think the local council and network rail may have to give the land a bit of a helping hand to finish moving by accelerating the process .
Another thing that has probably got Network Rail worrying is the tunnel has the land above the tunnel moved , i would have thought that network rail will have wanted to put monitoring equipment in there as well with it being so close to the landslip , i always have the worry of another Penmanshiel type disaster.
It may be so long a closure that Cross Country may have to start looking at running their services non stop between Oxford and Birmingham via the North Cotswolds line.
For Chiltern Trains however there is no diversion.
Network Rail are hoping to have the line back in operation by April 2 between Banbury and Leamington Spa .
Think the incumbent operators then will have a big marketing campaign to get get passengers back .