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Arsonists spark rail misery
MIDLAND commuters were facing the misery of delays to their journeys today after a suspected arson attack forced the closure of a rail line.
Firefighters were called to the section of track between the High Street in Tipton and Dudley Port Station, at around 2.15 this morning.
The crew, from Tipton, found part of the trackside cable had been set alight, which affected the railway electrics such as lights and signals.
Railtrack officials isolated the line to enable firefighters to extinguish the fire.
The line was closed for over an hour but rush hour trains were still affected by the delays to the service.
Firefighter Paul Ratcliffe, from Tipton, said: "It appears someone set fire to part of the trackside electrical cables.
"It wasn't a big fire but with all the electrics being affected it still managed to cause a fair bit of disruption.
"Even when the line was back up and running, they were having to travel tentatively and a bit slower than usual."
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