Four
passengers


and
four
members
of
railway
staff
were
unhurt
when
a
Northern
unit
was
derailed
between
Lancaster
and
Barrow-in-Furness
early
today.

The
line
will
be
closed
for
some
time
yet,
while
inspectors
from
the
Rail
Accident
Investigation
Branch
gather
evidence.

Although
the
cause
of
the
accident
is
not
yet
known,
Network
Rail
said
that
the
area
was
‘extremely
wet’,
and
that
engineers
have
discovered
a
void
in
the
ground
that
had
opened
around
150m
from
the
derailment,
which
occurred
near
Grange-over-Sands
station
at
about
06.00
this
morning.

Network
Rail’s
North
West
route
infrastructure
director
Chris
Pye
said:
‘All
lines
through
this
area
remain
blocked,
meaning
trains
are
currently
unable
to
run
between
Barrow-in-Furness
and
Lancaster.

Northern
regional
director
Craig
Harrop
added:
‘We’re
working
closely
with
Network
Rail
and
others
to
understand
more
about
what
happened.

‘No
trains
are
running
between
Barrow-in-Furness
and
Lancaster
and
there
will
be
significant
disruption
to
our
services
in
this
area.’