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Oxfordshire: Rail line remains closed after landslide

Network Rail Yarnton bridge over railway lineNetwork Rail
Fallen bricks on the track from the damaged bridge would not have been visible to the train driver at night

A rail line is expected to be impassable until the end of the day following a landslide in which a train hit rubble.

Great Western Railway (GWR) said the Paddington service on Friday evening ran into debris after a bridge in Yarnton, near Kidlington, was damaged.

Trains are currently unable to run between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh. Rail replacement buses are operating and diversions are in place.

GWR said no-one was injured.

Passenger Martin Chapman, who was on board the busy train with his wife, said he was told it was "deemed unfit to continue" after running into bricks.

Network Rail Bricks on train trackNetwork Rail
It was dark when British Transport Police had to escort 362 passengers from the Paddington service onto another train

He told the BBC: "We felt these two bumps. It just felt like we'd driven over something. We looked at each other and thought 'that doesn't sound good'.

"They came to a pretty abrupt halt, then they did a little inspection, and basically in the end we were there for five hours or so."

He described the passengers as "all incredibly calm and very well behaved" and the staff as "superb".

The 362 passengers were eventually asked to leave their carriages and walk along the tracks to another train.

GWR tickets are being accepted on certain CrossCountry, Avanti, Chiltern Railways, and West Midlands Railway services.

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