Landslip causes week of delays on London rail route

Commuters will face a week of delays after a landslip on the West Coast mainline has left London-bound sections of track closed.

Network rail engineers are working to fix the track after the landslip at Leighton Buzzard.

See also: Storm Henry: Trains and ferries cancelled as UK battered by 90mph gales

See also: Thrillseekers risk lives to wave watch at Liverpool promenade

London Midland, Southern and Virgin Trains services between London, the north west of England, the Midlands and the West of Scotland may be delayed and revised timetables are in use.

Services on all lines may not return to normal until Friday 5 February.

Engineers are building an access road through nearby fields so lorries can transport 2,200 tonnes of railway foundation stone to the site.

Mark Killick, area director for Network Rail, told Aol Travel: "We recognise the impact this embankment slip is having on train passengers and we are working to rebuild the embankment as soon as possible.

"This is a must-do job to ensure the ongoing safety of the railway. We are using this as an opportunity to make this railway embankment even stronger and cut the risk of a future slip.

"We are aiming to complete this work by Friday and can't be any more definitive at this point. Regrettably this means disruption to passengers for the duration of the week while our teams work hard to make repairs.

"We will continue to keep passengers up to date as we complete this emergency engineering work."

"We have arranged for as many London Midland services as possible to stop additionally at local stations and we are advising passengers that they can use their London Midland ticket on London Overground, London Underground and Southern services to help complete their journey. We will continue to provide customers with the latest updates on our website, www.londonmidland.com.

"We would like to thank our passengers for their patience whilst this issue is resolved."

You can also visit virgintrains.co.uk and southernrailway.com for updated service information.