Ice covers needed for Settle to Carlisle rail tunnel

The Victorian railway tunnel has three large shafts for ventilation

Covers are needed on shafts above a railway tunnel to reduce the risk of ice forming and derailing a train, according to Network Rail.

The company has applied for permission to install covers above three shafts on the 1.5 mile (2.4km) Blea Moor Tunnel on the Settle to Carlisle line.

Network Rail says ice has the potential to cause derailments and damage trains.

In 2010 a train derailed after it hit a large block of ice in a tunnel in West Yorkshire.

The Transpennine Express service from York to Manchester, with 45 passengers onboard, hit the ice in Summit Tunnel in Calderdale, but it remained upright and no-one was injured.

The Railway Accident Investigation Branch said it was aware of a number of incidents involving ice in tunnels and said Network Rail had reviewed its arrangement for reducing ice-related hazards, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service

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The Blea Moor Tunnel, which took almost five years to build and was completed in 1875, runs 500 ft (152m) below the moor.

It was built with the aid of seven construction shafts sunk from the moor, three of which remain for ventilation.

A passenger train was derailed by ice in Summit Tunnel in Calderdale in 2010

Network Rail said the work would require the dismantling and rebuilding a number of courses of brickwork on the shafts.

In its application the company said: "Our reason for needing to protect the shafts in this way is to prevent the build-up of ice from forming on the inside of the tunnels, which at its worst has caused train derailment and other severe damage to train cabs."

No date has been set for North Yorkshire County Council to consider the application, which comes ahead of major work on the nearby Ribblehead viaduct.

The company plans to improve drainage on the 144-year-old structure and restore brickwork.