Shropshire landslip
Train services between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury have been suspended and replaced by buses until around the end of the month, because of a landslip near Oakengates station in Telford. The operators affected are Transport for Wales, West Midlands Railway and Avanti West Coast. Network Rail said it had closed the line between Wellington and Oakengates on Friday so that engineers could assess a failed embankment. They discovered that 5,000 tonnes of material had slipped beneath a 50 metre section of railway, after persistent heavy rain over the past few months had weakened the structure. Network Rail added that before structural repairs can begin it must clear vegetation from the embankment, which will make the scale of the problem clearer. Once this work has been completed, a full plan for repairs will be confirmed.

Northern announces Northumberland fares
Tickets on the new Northumberland Line will be available from £1 when it opens this summer. Northern said the maximum off-peak single fare from Ashington to Newcastle will be under £3.

Waterloo scheme
Network Rail and the London Borough of Lambeth have unveiled plans to improve Waterloo station. The proposals include a redesigned northern concourse and a new concourse south of the station. The South Bank area will gain 1,900 square metres of green space, and hundreds of new trees. Bus and taxi interchanges will also be improved. Network Rail said the propoals will ‘help realise Waterloo’s full potential as a connected, safe, and thriving net-zero neighbourhood with an integrated world-class station at its heart’. 

Signals switched on
Trains are running again today on the Cornish Main Line and several branches in the county, as new colour light signals are switched on. Three mechanical signal boxes at Truro, Par and Lostwithiel have been abolished, and control transferred to Exeter, although existing boxes have been retained on the main line at Liskeard, Roskear, St Erth and Penzance, and on the Newquay branch at St Blazey and Goonbarrow. The work has taken 13 days so far, in the third stage of modernisation in the region. The focus now moves to Devon, where the main line between Exeter St David’s and Plymouth will be closed on 16 and 17 March, and between Totnes and Plymouth from 18 to 21 March.