Overnight fire in timber yard at Harrow closes West Coast main line into Euston - 15 Sep 2017

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Another story from The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Rail travellers using London Euston station are facing severe disruption following a fire overnight at a timber yard and offices in north-west London.

There is no service on London Midland, Virgin Trains and Southern between Milton Keynes Central and Euston.
Virgin trains to and from Scotland, north-west England, the West Midlands and north Wales are starting or terminating at Milton Keynes.

London Midland is advising its passengers not to travel on the route.

Network Rail said the blaze had damaged a trackside retaining wall that was "in danger of collapse".

"It will need to be dismantled, made safe and rebuilt," a statement said.

"This a big job expected to take all day. The West Coast main line will remain shut between Euston and Milton Keynes while these repairs are made."

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said the repair work was "not a quick job" as the wall can only be accessed from the railway side and special equipment is needed to access it.

[ChrisB]

From Virgin's website/journeycheck....

Advice:

You can get real time journey updates to your mobile by visiting www.journeycheck.com/virgintrains and registering for live travel alerts direct from our control centre or by tweeting our team @VirginTrains.
 Other train operators are accepting Virgin Trains tickets so customers can take alternative routes. If you can be flexible with your journey, then ticket restrictions have been lifted so you do not have to travel on your booked train. Customers are also free to travel tomorrow instead if they wish to. All customers should expect journeys to take longer than normal and be very busy. We are sorry for the inevitable disruption and delay to your journey.

Alternative Routes:

Full ticket acceptance by other operators is in place. This includes the following: Virgin Trains East Coast and East Midlands trains are taking passengers via any reasonable route.

Arriva Wales are taking passengers between Newport South Wales and Holyhead via Chester in both directions. Chiltern Railways are taking passengers between London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill in both directions. London Midland, Transpennine Express, Scotrail, Merseyrail and Cross Country are taking passengers via any reasonable route.

I'm caught up in this - booked on the 1420 to Manchester, now going to use East Coast to Doncaster & TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) to Piccadilly leaving 90 minutes earlier to achieve same time arrival. Fortunately booked First Advance, so at least stand some chance in First Class of getting a seat.

[Timmer]

I'm caught up in this - booked on the 1420 to Manchester, now going to use East Coast to Doncaster & TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) to Piccadilly leaving 90 minutes earlier to achieve same time arrival. Fortunately booked First Advance, so at least stand some chance in First Class of getting a seat.

Let us know how you got on. Hope you have a good journey.

[IndustryInsider]

I suspect it'll be rather snug on a Friday afternoon.

[IndustryInsider]

Pleased to see lines reopened at around 1pm.  Delays will be ongoing for several hours with crew and trains everywhere they shouldn't be, but at least the pressure is taken off of Marylebone, St. Pancras and Kings Cross.

[ChrisB]

I suspect it'll be rather snug on a Friday afternoon.

Picked a quieter (in 1st) Leeds service & going via Doncaster & TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) to Manchester. So far so good, headed straight for the unreserved 1st coach, chose my seat & made comfortable. Towards departure, crew declassified 1st filling empty seats, but no more cosy than a peak hour service.

No hot food & cold sandwich etc only available on collection with ticket. Drinks came through. Traveller opposite thinks her 1st class bag has floor priority over others feet though! Asked to use the rack.

Onwards. Crew excellent