Stranded loco shuts rail track

Apr 25 2007 By Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail

THOUSANDS of commuters faced travel chaos today as trains were cancelled when a locomotive broke down on the tracks.

Passengers on the Walsall to Birmingham New Street Cross City line were hit by delays when they were left stranded this morning.

Platforms were packed full of workers as crowds built up in the rush hour.

Many were forced to find an alternative form of transport and had to rely on the bus network to get into the city centre.

Some are thought to have been up to an hour late getting into work.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said: "The broken down train affected the morning rush hour peak.

"Trains were cancelled to help the services get back to timetable and it is likely thousands of passengers would have faced significant delays this morning. Trains are beginning to return to a normal service."

A spokesman for Central Trains said: "At 8.41am we had a unit failure at Aston so there were delays for passengers travelling to Birmingham New Street.

"Engineers were called and the problem was fixed within 40 minutes. It is too early to know why the train broke down and we are currently investigating the matter."