No trains will stop at rail station due to dry weather

NO trains will call at a Somerset railway station “until further notice”, due to excessively dry conditions.

- DANIEL MUMBY Local Democracy Reporter

Crewkerne railway station lies on the London Waterloo to Exeter St David’s line, with the recently nationalised South Western Railway (SWR) providing hourly services in each direction.

Network Rail announced on Tuesday evening that no trains would call at the station for the foreseeable future, citing the impact of the recent hot, dry weather on the clay embankments between Salisbury and Axminster.

A rail replacement bus service will run between Axminster and Yeovil Junction, while trains running along the line will be restricted to 40mph until the weather has cooled sufficiently for Network Rail to make the necessary repairs.

Many of the Victorian-era railway embankments that support tracks across the Southern region are made of clay, which absorbs a lot of water and severely shrinks when it is dry.