Landslide: Birmingham to London rail disruption continues

Disruption is expected to be in place for the rest of the day

Commuters have faced further travel delays after a landslide blocked a railway between Coventry and Rugby.

Disruption, which has affected tens of thousands of passengers, is expected to last into Wednesday.

Earth fell on to the tracks on Sunday forcing cancellations and diversions to between Birmingham and London Euston.

Earlier, West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway both said no services were operating between Coventry and Northampton.

Passengers travelling on Avanti West Coast trains have been advised a limited number of services may be able to use the line between Rugby and Coventry in the northbound direction only.

Services from Birmingham New Street to Northampton will only run between Birmingham and Coventry, the operator adds.

A replacement bus service is running every 30 minutes between Coventry, Rugby, Long Buckby and Northampton.

Engineers have worked through the night to try to clear the landslide

The operators have issued apologies to customers.

Meanwhile, Network Rail said engineers were working to cut back and clear vegetation from the railway embankment so workers could understand the scale of the damage and check there was no risk of further landslips.

It recommended passengers consulted National Rail Enquiries before setting out.

Phil Barnes, operations director for Network Rail, said: "A plan is now in place to remove soil before checking the track to allow services to run.

"To do this safely, we are closing both lines overnight on Monday and Tuesday morning. We are working to reopen both lines on Tuesday afternoon.

"Our team is working around the clock to get trains running again as soon as we can, and we are sorry for the disruption to journeys this is causing."