National Express East Anglia – Marks Tey to Sudbury line incident update

National Express East Anglia confirms that a replacement bus service will continue to operate on the Marks Tey to Sudbury line for the rest of today (Wednesday 18 August) and tomorrow (Thursday 19 August), following yesterday’s incident near Bures, when a train collided with a road tanker on a user-controlled crossing.

The process to remove the lorry involved and the damaged train is underway, but is expected to take many hours to complete, after which repairs to the track will also be necessary, before train services can resume. It is not yet clear when the line will re-open and the scheduled train service timetable can be restored. However, our teams are working closely with Network Rail to re-introduce train services as soon as possible.

According to reports from the British Transport Police and the hospitals involved, one passenger remains in a serious, but stable, condition. A number of other passengers and the train driver are also still in hospital, but do not have serious injuries.

The investigation into the incident by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch is now underway.  The British Transport Police has issued a statement saying that “a 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving”.  The man is believed to be the driver of the lorry.

Details of the replacement bus service and the timing of the restoration of train services will continue to be provided on our website at www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com.

Andrew Chivers, Managing Director, National Express East Anglia said :

“We are continuing to prioritise the welfare of our passengers and traincrew and our thoughts continue to be with those who are injured and their families. We hope that they will all make a full recovery.

I would like to assure our customers that we are doing all we can to re-introduce train services as soon as is practical.  I would also like to pay tribute to the many employees at National Express East Anglia, Network Rail, the British Transport Police, the emergency services and the NHS who have provided a professional and positive response to this difficult incident.”