OREANDA-NEWS. Network Rail is planning to reopen the railway through Barnehurst, South London, on Thursday, following a landslip on Monday night.

More than 200 tonnes of trees, soil and debris slid onto the railway tracks near the station at around 10pm . Nobody was hurt and trains were stopped from running after a Southeastern train driver alerted staff.

Engineers from Network Rail and its contractor Costain have been on site since then and have been working through the day and night to clear the debris and plan repairs.

Network Rail’s route managing director Alasdair Coates said: “Passengers have been very patient and I am sorry for the disruption they have endured. We have a plan in place to bring the railway back into use in time for rush hour on Thursday morning, and meanwhile we are working to stabilise the sides of the railway and stop any further landslips.

“This shows the challenges we face in operating a railway that was designed and built by Victorians, while we are dealing with more rain, more often than ever before.”

As well as damaging the tracks, the landslip also dislodged signalling equipment, which will need to be repaired before trains can run.

A Southeastern spokesman said: "The line between Dartford and Lewisham via Bexleyheath has unfortunately been closed all day while Network Rail engineers are on site. We advise passengers to use trains from Dartford to Lewisham via Sidcup or Greenwich if possible. London buses are accepting tickets on all reasonable routes.

"Please check your journey and allow more time to travel.  Sorry to anyone who is affected by this. Please remember if you’re delayed more than 30 minutes you can claim Delay Repay compensation.”               

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain’s railway – the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.6bn journeys by rail every year - double the number of 1996 - and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We’re investing ?38bn in the railway by 2019 to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.