Rail service resumes after borehole discovery

Train services have resumed after a collision between a train and vehicle at a level crossing, which led to the subsequent discovery of a borehole.

Staff found the hole during an inspection of the crash site, near Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, on Saturday afternoon.

Network Rail said its appearance was not connected to the crash, and suggested the borehole was linked to previous work which followed a train derailment in the area last March.

The hole had been filled with cement and "would not have presented a safety risk", a Network Rail spokesperson said.

Network Rail said the Rail Accidents and Investigations Branch (RAIB) was looking into the incident on Saturday.

No-one was injured in the crash, with the train driver and passengers all safely evacuated.

Nonetheless, the crash, and subsequent discovery of the borehole, led to Northern services between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster being disrupted across the weekend, with buses replacing the train service.

A number of boreholes had been drilled as part of embankment inspections following last year's train derailment.

Network Rail's senior geo-tech engineer, Rowan Peters, said "occasionally the back-filling of that borehole can get stuck in the hole, or we have some issues where the material slumps a bit further into the hole".

He described the issue as "not a regular occurrence", adding that "whilst unusual, at no point do we feel there was any real risk to the safety of passengers".

"It can come across as alarming that there are problems that seem to be occurring repeatedly around this area." However, he told BBC Radio Cumbria the borehole would have been discovered, even if the crash had not occurred.

"We are fully inspecting our assets and we are continuing to monitor this line, but these events are quite rare," he stressed.

Mr Peters said Network Rail also planned to revisit other boreholes from the previous inspection "just to confirm all the back-filling is as it was when we left it".

RAIB said it was aware of the collision and its inspectors were gathering evidence to determine whether to launch an investigation or not.

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