London commuters delayed after train hits cow

A London commuter route was shut for five hours on Wednesday night after a train hit a cow on the line.

The London Midland service from Euston hit the animal on tracks near Milton Keynes just before 5pm.

The incident occurred at Hanslope, eight miles north of Milton Keynes, on the service to Birmingham New Street, reports the Evening Standard.

Services to Northampton and Milton Keynes suffered major delays as a result.

Network Rail, which operated the service, said the trackside fence separating the railway from a field had been trampled by the animal, which weighed around a tonne.

A butcher was sent to the scene to remove the carcass, and services were affected until around 11pm.

According to the Evening Standard, Network Rail plans to spend £10 million on upgrading fencing alone the line to bring it up to the standard of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and improve reliability.

Back in May 2012, a passenger train carrying around 200 people hit a herd of cows who had "strayed on to the tracks" in Oxfordshire.

The Bournemouth to Manchester Crosscountry Trains service struck around 12 animals just north of Oxford, near the village of Tackley, according to the BBC.

The train was stuck on the line for around four hours, and a spokeswoman for Network Rail told the Telegraph that there was not much damage to the train, but that unfortunately there was "quite a lot of mess".

Related articles

Cows attack woman walking her dog in Cornwall

Panic as passenger train hits herd of cows on track