Cross City north and Walsall services restart after lineside fire repairs

The lines between Birmingham New Street, Lichfield Trent Valley and Walsall via Aston have reopened after overnight repairs to fire-damaged power and signalling cables.

Services were affected throughout Friday (9 August) until the line reopened this morning (Saturday 10 August) after the embankment fire near Aston station on Friday morning.

The damage needed extensive repairs which took place overnight and into the early hours of this morning. The cause of the fire is currently unknown.

Neil Gaskin, programme director for Network Rail’s Central route, said: “The affected lines have now reopened. Thank you to passengers for their patience while we repaired this extensive damage so trains could once again run safely along these routes.”

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway, said: “I would like to thank our customers for their patience while these essential repairs were carried out. With the lines now reopened, train services are able to resume.

“Any passenger whose journey was delayed by 15 minutes or more as a result of this disruption can claim compensation against the cost of their ticket via the Delay Repay scheme.”