Trains finally back on track through Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough

Train bosses are on target to have services back on track in time for the evening rush hour after a day of delays and cancellations for Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough passengers.

Network Rail engineers battled to fix damage to an overhead power line near Harpenden since the early hours of Thursday morning (February 6).

That closed two of the four lines between Bedford and Luton on the route from Northamptonshire to London and a vital junction, forcing East Midlands Railways to cut the number of trains they could run over that stretch line.

All Corby services were replaced by buses with passengers connecting to a reduced service at Kettering.

It was initially feared the commute home would be just as bad for Northamptonshire travellers. But EMR now say they hope to have a full timetable restored by 4pm.

An EMR spokesman said: "Once Network Rail have fixed the problem, our priority will be to get trains running to their advertised times again. Work is expected to be completed by 14:00 and we expect our advertised timetable to resume on the affected routes by 16:00."

Engineers confirmed that all lines had reopened just after 2.30pm.

A spokesman for Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining Britain's rail tracks and infrastructure, said: "Our engineers have been working to carry out a temporary fix to allow a full service to resume as quickly as possible.

"When Network Rail workers arrived on site, they found that one of the overhead electric wires, which is used to power trains, had snapped.

"To allow repair work to be carried out safely, the power to this section of overhead line equipment has been turned off. Incidents like this also have a knock-on effect on services elsewhere on the route as it can mean that trains, drivers and crews aren’t in the right place at the right time to run other services in the day’s timetable.

"A permanent repair will be carried out overnight."