Jeremy Wright MP steps in after railway landslip in Harbury

The Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam visited the site of the landslip along the Leamington to Banbury railway line.

The line carries services for Chiltern Railways and CrossCounty Trains, as well as substantial freight services.

Network Rail cancelled all trains on the London route for three weeks and specialist engineers have been assessing the landslide – which is still slowly moving – to determine the scale of the problem.

Mr Wright was invited to meet the team at the scene to see firsthand the work being done to get the line operational again for passengers.

Accompanied by Network Rail chairman, Richard Parry-Jones, and route delivery director Karl Budge, he was shown the scale of work taking place, as well as making sure it is carried out to the benefit of passengers and residents.

Mr Wright said: “It is important the line is opened as quickly as possible.

“But it is also important to establish the cause of the landslip, and to ensure the problem is rectified for such an important and busy route.”

The team also discussed the nature of the landslip along the cutting which forms the approaches to Harbury Tunnel and is excavated to depths of up to 30 metres. There was a similar landslip in the same place this time last year

After the slip on January 31, Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said: “This is a massive incident and I am making sure we have all the resources we need to tackle this problem.

“I can assure passengers whose journeys are being disrupted that we will do our utmost to restore their services as soon as possible.

“However, it may take several weeks to stabilise it before we can start some services.”

Bus replacement services are running between Leamington and Banbury stations.