West Coast services back to normal

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Passengers who had to endure delays of up to two hours following the closure of a large section of the West Coast Main Line were able to enjoy trouble-free journeys.

Network Rail (NR) had planned to finish the major project in the Rugby area of the West Midlands in time for the start of services on Monday this week.

But the line was not fully open until 5am on Friday after passengers returning to work after the Christmas break had had to take coaches between Birmingham and Northampton on the previous few days.

NR has faced criticism from all sides for the late-running work. It is holding its own inquiry and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has also launched an investigation.

The ORR fined NR £2.4 million for overrunning signalling work at Portsmouth in 2006 and could impose another hefty penalty on the rail infrastructure company over the West Coast work.

George Muir, director-general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "We welcome the reopening of the West Coast line. This overrun has been a serious fiasco causing great inconvenience to passengers, which we very much regret."

"We need the inquiries announced by the ORR and NR to be carried out urgently. They need to get to the bottom of what precisely went wrong and ensure this does not happen again," he added.

"NR need to think very carefully about how major projects are run. Train operators and their passengers are relying on them for the efficient delivery of a major programme of work in the coming year."

Rail unions the RMT and TSSA have been critical of the role private contractors have played in the West Coast work.