Emergency incident shuts main railway line between south Wales and London with trains cancelled and delayed
An emergency incident has shut part of the main line between south Wales and London on Tuesday morning. It has been reported that a person has been hit by a train near Swindon and emergency services are at the scene.
British Transport Police have confirmed that a person was pronounced dead at the scene. A spokesperson said: "Officers were called to the line near Wantage at around 8.28am today (17 September) following reports of a casualty on the tracks. Paramedics also attended, however, sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner."
Emergency services were called to the Wantage area shortly before 8.30am this morning. It involved the 7.31am Great Western Railway (GWR) service from London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa – which is now stationary in the Uffington area. All lines are blocked, with significant delays and disruption expected at stations on the main line, including Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Chippenham and Bath for several hours. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
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A statement on the GWR website reads: “Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Swindon and Didcot Parkway all lines are blocked. Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 1pm on Tuesday, September 17.
“We are sorry for the delay to your journey. We will update this message with more information when we have it." National Rail said services affected were between Penzance / Plymouth / Swansea / Cardiff Central / Taunton / Weston-Super-Mare / Bristol Temple Meads / Westbury / Worcester Shrub Hill / Cheltenham Spa and London Paddington.
It added: "Trains are unable to divert around the incident as engineering works are taking place between Newbury and Bedwyn. Customers currently west of Swindon travelling towards London are advised to travel to Birmingham New Street on CrossCountry services to connect with Avanti West Coast services towards London Euston. CrossCountry are also able to run between Birmingham New Street and Reading via Oxford as these lines remain open. Congestion in the area may mean these services are also delayed."