Cause of major delays at Birmingham New Street confirmed as problems continue
All services were delayed or cancelled at Birmingham New Street Station on Sunday (July 13) morning due to Network Rail works overrunning.
West Midlands Railway announced issues with its services due to 'operational issues' shortly after 8am. And those problems are continuing.
READ MORE: Birmingham New Street Station services hit by 'major problems'
Now the cause of the major disruption to services has been revealed.
A vehicle used to carry out the engineering works has got stuck in Canal Street Tunnel.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Railway said: 'The issues this morning are related to a Network Rail track possession that has overrun due to a broken down vehicle in the Canal St tunnel, meaning that no services have been able to operate in and out of New Street.'
'We have requested rail replacement buses for the Cross City Line and Coventry corridor and ticket acceptance is in place with National Express West Midlands, West Midlands Metro (trams) and Chiltern Railways.
'Customers for Hereford are being advised to travel from Snow Hill.'
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The trains firm has said that issues on one Birmingham line – Cross City Line South – could be disrupted for a lot longer even after other services resume.
'Current estimates are that services are likely to be disrupted for most of the morning and the Cross City South potentially impacted for longer.'
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Network Rail has described the problems as being caused by a 'fault with a machine'.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: 'We're very sorry to passengers whose journeys have disrupted through Birmingham New Street station this morning, as a result of over-running engineering work.
'This has been caused by a fault with a machine, which was being used as part of the work.
'This has unfortunately affected several routes through the station.
'Rail replacement bus services are in place: please check with your train operator, or on nationalrail.co.uk for the latest train running information.'
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