TL;DR
- A train derailed near Shap, Cumbria, after hitting a landslide, injuring four passengers with no serious injuries reported.
- Emergency services declared a major incident, assessing 87 individuals and safely evacuating all passengers from the train.
- Avanti West Coast announced significant disruption to train services, advising passengers to avoid travel north of Preston for several days.
Trains disrupted after Glasgow-London service derails in Shap, Cumbria | UK News
Four people suffered minor injuries after a train derailed after hitting a landslide near the Lake District in Cumbria, emergency services have said.
The 4.28am Glasgow to London Euston service came off the tracks at around 6.10am on Monday near the village of Shap, a Network Rail spokesperson said, adding the derailment was reported by a train driver.
Pictures showed the front carriage was completely derailed, but remained upright.
A major incident was declared by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), which was stood down at 10.20am, with its resources “being withdrawn from the scene”.
A total of 87 patients were assessed by medics, it said, with four suffering minor injuries.
No one required further hospital treatment, and all were discharged from the nearby rest centre, it added.
British Transport Police said all passengers had been safely removed from the train and there were no casualties at 9.10am.
Sam MacDougall, Network Rail operations director told reporters early indications suggest the train hit a landslide before it derailed.
He said the train design “has worked extremely well as the vehicles remained upright, albeit the leading vehicle derailed”.
The train driver made an emergency call reporting the incident on the 11-carriage train.
Avanti West Coast staff and colleagues from the emergency services “were on the scene extremely quickly”.
All 87 people on board were “safely evacuated from the train and brought to the nearby hotel Shap Wells Hotel.
“By 1040 this morning, all customers were removed by road transport.”
He thanked all services involved in responding to the incident in “very, very challenging conditions, both weather and terrain”.
Avanti West Coast said all lines north of Preston were blocked, as it asked customers not to try to travel north of the city.
The company warned there was likely to be “significant disruption to our network for a number of days”.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed a major incident had been declared, but “there are no reported injuries”.
NWAS said “resources” had been dispatched to the incident and other emergency services were also at the scene.
National Rail said the Transpennine Express line had been affected, warning “major disruption between Carlisle and Preston [was] expected until the end of the day.
“A derailed train between Penrith and Oxenholme means all lines are blocked.
Trains running between Carlisle and Preston may be delayed by up to 120 minutes or cancelled.”
Avanti West Coast said rail replacement buses are operating between Carlisle and Preston and tickets would be accepted on LNER, ScotRail and CrossCountryUK routes.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale and former Liberal Democrat leader, said: “I’m deeply concerned to hear the news coming out of Shap this morning.
“My thoughts are with everyone on board the train and the emergency service workers who are now on the scene.”
Rail expert Nigel Harris said that “apparently the train hit a landslip at near Shap” which “derailed the front carriage. And only the front carriage, which remained upright“.
It would have taken around a quarter of a mile for the train, travelling at a “not insignificant” speed, to stop, he said, and it would have been “extremely uncomfortable” for all those on board.
Shap is in central Cumbria, around 10 miles (15km) south of Penrith, which Mr Harris called “the middle of nowhere, and access to that site is not easy”.