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Trains 'largely normal' after crash
05.01.09
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Rail passengers can expect "largely normal" services after engineers worked through the night to repair damaged power lines, caused by a fatal plane crash.
Problems with overhead cables brought services around Euston station to a halt and Network Rail had warned services were unlikely to be running ready for the start of the working week after workers found "extensive damage" to the cables between Watford Junction and Watford Tunnel.
But a spokesman said extra workers were brought in and repairs were completed by 4am on Monday.
The West Coast Mainline was shut after the light aircraft ploughed into its lines at Little Haywood, near Stafford, on Friday.
The crash claimed the lives of pilot Alan Matthews, 59, from Walsall Wood, West Midlands, and married couple Nick and Emma O'Brien, 35 and 29, from Shirley, Solihull.
The tragedy left thousands of rail passengers stranded on Friday as services were brought to a halt.
British Transport Police (BTP) said they had handed the line back to Network Rail after an examination by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
British Transport Police named the crash victims as Mr and Mrs O'Brien, who had two sons aged 18 months and 10. It is understood that pilot Mr Matthews knew Mr O'Brien through his work with a Birmingham-based demolition firm.
Mr Matthews, a member of a flying club based near Lichfield, Staffordshire, was said by friends to be a well-liked and proficient pilot who had almost two decades of flying experience. His wife, Jenny, issued a short statement paying tribute to her husband as a "loving, caring" man who would help anybody and loved flying.
