Merseyrail chaos probe call

Sep 28 2011 by Gary Stewart, Birkenhead News

MERSEYRAIL’S boss called for a full investigation after a damaged cable brought the entire network to a standstill.

Passengers were left trapped underground on trains for more than an hour while others were stuck between stations with no clue about what was happening.

One diabetic passenger stranded between Rock Ferry and Green Lane had to be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital by ambulance after becoming unwell.

Merseyrail Managing Director Bart Schmeink slammed the blunder by Network Rail’s contractors at Sandhills station in Kirkdale.

CCTV was being installed to boost security, part of which was a move to deter thieves targeting lucrative railway cable.

Mr Schmeink said: “It was unbelievable – this is 2011. Network Rail should have had contingency plans in place.

“We’ve had conversations with Network Rail and said we want a full investigation and we want to see the results and we want assurances this won’t happen again.

“If this kind of thing happens three or four times reputation suffers and you have a difficulty keeping people on the network.

“I want to say sorry to all our customers for any inconvenience.

“I understand people were frustrated because they were trapped on a train and weren’t sure what was happening.

“We didn’t deliver the reliable service and for that we apologise.”

The communications cable that linked to the signalling system was disturbed at around 8.45am on Friday. Power was down for 75 minutes

It is understood Network Rail will be hit with a fine of around £6,000 for the delays.

A spokesman added: “Network Rail and Merseyrail will be carrying out a joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding the power failure to establish the cause and any lessons that can be learned from it.

“We identified the problem and had people working to restore power as soon as we could to keep disruption to a minimum but recognise that a significant number of people had their travel plans disrupted, for which we offer our sincere apologies.”