Trains will run to Corkickle from the south later this month as work continues on Cumbria Coast Line’s Bransty Tunnel.
The tunnel, between Whitehaven and Corkickle, has been shut since Friday July 25 when Network Rail engineers started scheduled survey work inside the structure.
Whitehaven & Workington MP Josh MacAlister said he had been pushing Network Rail and Northern to extend the service and was told yesterday that trains would now temporarily terminate at Corkickle from August 25.
Surveys identified a section of the tunnel floor needed extra strengthening to allow for the heavy machinery needed for the improvements, and the tunnel remains closed.
Passengers have been using replacement buses between Workington and Sellafield.
But from last Monday August 11, trains began serving the northern part of the line to and from Whitehaven.
Now work will be carried out to allow train operator Northern to run services from Barrow and Lancaster to Corkickle.
Trains won’t stop at Braystones and Nethertown but customers at those stations can continue to get alternative transport by calling 0800 200 6060.
Mr MacAlister said he had been given expert advice that the extension was achievable.
He was updated by Northern and Network Rail last night.
The firms said: “Over the weekend and into this week alongside our teams we have looked at several ways we could get back to operating trains to/from Corkickle.
“As you may have been advised on face value ‘anything; is possible – our reality is however that our fleet constraints – where we run the trains and how we get them to Manchester and Newcastle for maintenance – combined with some operating constraints mean that at this moment customers to Corkickle safely aren’t possible.
“To that end we have begun the work which will enable us to ‘flex’ some of our fleet arrangements, and we have begun working through what we would need to install on the ground to get the services beyond Sellafield.
“As it stands, we are working on fitting a temporary buffer stop installation and fast tracking the completion of the required safety validation for the operation of Class 195s, which will allow us to extend the current trains we are operating through Sellafield onto Corkickle from Monday August 25.
“Regretfully this isn’t a perfect solution in terms of the currently planned date – we are working to better it – and the service will call at all stations except Nethertown and Braystones due to platform access issues that we haven’t yet managed to overcome.
“Customers at these stations are requested to continue to contact the Northern Customer Services team on 0800 200 6060 so that they can arrange transport. We are keeping a close eye on these arrangements to make sure they meet the needs of customers.”
