Rail passengers could face chaos until the weekend, and even beyond, after a combination of overrunning engineering work, the closure of a London station, and a fire at a major station in the Midlands caused misery for tens of thousands of passengers yesterday.
Network Rail, in charge of the infrastructure, admitted it had made a "muddle" of engineering work; one train company expressed concern that the chaos could be repeated throughout the year.
Politicians and passenger groups criticised the problems as the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) launched "an urgent investigation" into the engineering overruns. The disruption coincided with the first day of increased fares, which have already caused one passenger action group to plan a fare strike.
Work on overhead electrical lines on the west coast main line at Rugby in Warwickshire had been due to finish on Monday. But the job proved more difficult than expected and Network Rail did not have enough engineers to complete it on time. Thousands of passengers had delays of two hours or more as they were forced to use coaches or alternative rail routes. A fire in a cafe closed Birmingham International station.
Waiting at Birmingham International, a passenger, Alison Simpole, said her journey from London Euston to Manchester was turning into a "nightmare".
"Instead of getting one train direct to Manchester, we travelled to Northampton and were told to take a replacement coach. I am disabled and can't use the coach, so in the end they put me in a taxi. It is the first time in eight years I have used the train and I won't be risking it again." Margaret Haines, travelling from Milton Keynes to Crewe, said: "It has been an adventure, to say the least. We should have been in Crewe 40 minutes ago but instead we are stuck here in Birmingham, wondering when the next train will turn up. It is a complete mishmash."
Overrunning engineering work kept Liverpool Street station in London closed, hitting commuters returning to work. The station was expected to be open this morning, but Network Rail could not say for when the line at Rugby would reopen.
Tony Collins, chief executive of Virgin Trains, the train company worst hit, said it had written to the ORR asking if Network Rail had breached its licence over its handling of the work on the west coast main line. Virgin fears further problems as work on the line is continuing throughout 2008. Collins said: "Is this just a one-off with Network Rail or is there an endemic problem? We need some transparency."
Robin Gisby, Network Rail's director of operations and customer service, said: "We've made a muddle of the last couple of days. We got it wrong. I'm very sorry about what we've done to everybody at Rugby and Liverpool Street."
He said about 400 people a shift had been working on a five-mile stretch of rail at Rugby. "As [the work] began to overrun during 30 and 31 December we couldn't get the extra resources we needed. We are working flat out to get it fixed." He said the work had to be finished now so that "three or four" other major pieces of engineering work could take place at Easter and on bank holidays.
The ORR could fine Network Rail heavily. The ORR's chairman, Chris Bolt, said Network Rail's programme for completing the west coast works would be reviewed.
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