Rail disruption cleared after tree hit power lines

Rail services have returned to normal following two days of disruption between Birmingham and Stafford caused by a tree that came down in strong winds and damaged overhead cables.

The tree hit the tracks at Penkridge, Staffordshire, at about 20:20 GMT on Tuesday, leading 45 passengers to be evacuated from a London Northwestern Railway service.

Trains were delayed, cancelled and diverted on Wednesday and Thursday morning, with National Rail (NR) reporting "significant damage" to electric wires.

The network has since confirmed lines have reopened between Stafford, Penkridge and Wolverhampton, with trains running as scheduled.

The disruption affected passengers on Avanti West Coast, Caledonian Sleeper, CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway services, with passengers travelling to and from Birmingham, Shrewsbury and Crewe also faced with delays.

An amended timetable was in place to allow services to continue to run, NR said, advising customers to check before they travelled.

"Your journey may be cancelled or revised to terminate or start at different stations. Trains that are scheduled to run from different stations may be delayed," passengers were advised.

NR said the tree had come down at Penkridge in "extreme weather conditions" and engineers were "working hard" to repair the damage.

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