Great Railway Fiascos No. 10: Train route blocked by way the crow flies

Great Railway Fiascos: No 1

AS A long-suffering rail traveller, Noreen Murray has listened to many excuses. But she thought she must have misheard when an announcement was made that a "bird strike" had halted her journey.

Travelling from Birmingham to Holyhead in north Wales should have taken just two hours. But the journey was sabotaged after a crow flew into the overhead cables and "exploded", causing a major power failure.

"Cows on the line I have heard of, and leaves, but this was my first experience of a bird holding up a train," said the retired teacher, of Edgbaston, Birmingham.

On 28 July, Ms Murray set off on North West's 10.07 from Birmingham hoping to catch the 13.45 ferry from to Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire.

Between Stafford and Crewe, the train, which was already running 15 minutes late, suddenly ground to a halt. "We were informed that the power lines were down due to the fact that a crow had flown on to them, exploded, and brought the line down," said Ms Murray. "There goes my ferry, I thought."

Two hours later, after it became evident that the cables could not be readily repaired, an engine was sent to tow the train back to Stafford. Passengers were then transferred to a coach which took them to Crewe and from there to the ferry terminal in Holyhead. "Needless to say I missed the ferry and had to wait until 6.20pm for the last one," said Ms Murray. "A journey that should have taken just five hours in the end took 12 hours because of one bird."

Railtrack, which owns the rail network, said the "bird strike" happened on a "particularly sensitive" piece of equipment where power cables converged. "The bird flew into the wires and then exploded, causing serious damage with some of the lines sagging dangerously," said a spokesman.

A whole stretch of the West Coast main line had to be shut off and trains were diverted for the entire afternoon to allow repairs to be carried out.

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