Derailment to cause delays for months

THIS amazing image shows the scale of the work that has to be done.

Taken after a goods train left the tracks near Ely, the pictures shows the devastation the dramatic derailment left in its wake.

And as engineers today work to reopen the closed train line, passengers are still facing months of delays.

Carriages of a freight train which derailed over a river in June are being moved today as the next part of the recovery phase begins, but it is thought it will be months before the track from Ipswich to Peterborough will reopen.

Some of the wagons behind the goods locomotive, which was heading along the Bury St Edmunds to Ely line, left the tracks on a bridge over the River Ouse, near Littleport.

As a result travellers are using coaches from Bury St Edmunds to their final destination - delaying journeys up to an hour.

Because of the unusual location of the accident removing the 11 carriages has proved a difficult task so far with a new road of 1.3km already built specifically to allow access.

A platform made of 20,000 tonnes of stone and plastic meshing had been constructed and today a 1,000 tonne crane is on top of the platform ready to lift the carriages.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail which is carrying out the work said: “There are 11 wagons to lift and it is a tricky process so it may take a while to do.

“The work is being done as quickly as possible. Our focus is on reopening that railway line. It is a very important freight line and cross-country line.”

She said once the carriages had been removed work to clear the river of debris and to rebuild the bridge would start.

An investigation is being carried out to determine the cause of the accident.

Is the derailed train causing you problems? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.