Track damage caused by Bletchley derailment blocks through trains onto East West Rail

The East West Rail route remains closed to through traffic, including a daily freight flow, after a derailment on the West Coast Main Line.

The leading bogie of London Northwestern Railway 350247 came off the tracks during a wrong direction move from the Up slow to the Down slow Denbigh Hall South Junction between Bletchley and Milton Keynes on June 26.

The units (350247 and 350370) had been working the 0906 Birmingham New Street-London Euston service which was cancelled at Bletchley due to a technical issue and were completing an unscheduled empty carriage stock movement when the derailment happened.

The site of the derailment is also the point East West Rail joins the WCML.

The derailment blocked the WCML for several hours on the day, with the units remaining in place, straddling the slow lines until they were removed the following day.

The lines were reopened at 4pm on June 29, however Network Rail logs indicate there is no access to or from EWR at the junction due to significant damage to two sets of points.

As of July 1 there was no plan for repair or timescale for reopening agreed, with a plan to restore access between the two routes “yet to be formalised”.

It means through services, including a daily freight working between Northampton Gateway and Southampton docks, have been cancelled. The service had only started operating ten days earlier on June 16.

The DB Cargo-operated train was cancelled on June 26, 27, 30 and July 1 but on July 2 operated on a diversionary route via Milton Keynes and Acton Main Line which was likely to continue for the rest of this week and potentially into the week beginning July 7.

A 20mph speed restriction remains in place on both WCML slow lines.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch sent a team to the site in the hours following the derailment..

A spokeswoman said: “Our inspectors are gathering evidence as part of the process of conducting a preliminary examination and a decision on whether or not an investigation will be launched will be taken in the coming days.”

Inspectors had left by the following day.