Trains delayed as Railtrack feels the heat

Severe delays to tens of thousands of commuters were blamed yesterday on the wrong sort of sunshine – or "adverse weather conditions", as Railtrack put it.

The infrastructure company imposed scores of speed restrictions as south-east England experienced scorching summer temperatures, while a main route had to be closed because of a derailment.

A Railtrack spokeswoman said the sun had buckled the rails in some cases, and elsewhere engineers insisted on lower speeds where there was concern that "excessive heat" might have affected the track. Passengers using Anglia Railways and West Anglia Great Northern services out of London Liverpool Street were delayed by up to 40 minutes.

Buses were provided for commuters using Connex trains in Kent between Faversham and Dover after the line was closed. In all 30 Connex services were delayed.The spokeswoman said there were potential problems where there had been recent maintenance work and the track may not have bedded down.

But Anthony Smith, of the Rail Passengers' Council, said: "I'm sure there are perfectly good technical reasons why sudden variations in weather have this effect. But it does seem extraordinary that after 200 years of running the railways we haven't worked out a way of coping with it.''

The London-Glasgow line was expected to be disrupted for four days after a freight train derailed at 75mph. Fourteen wagons carrying timber left the track near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway. The knock-on effects for the network were so severe that disruption extended as far as the West Country.