Crash leads to travel disruption

One woman died when the Virgin Pendolino train derailed

Train services between Scotland and England on the West Coast Mainline have been cancelled in the wake of a fatal accident in Cumbria.

Virgin Trains have suspended services between Lancaster and Lockerbie, with replacement buses - and say similar arrangements will operate on Sunday.

A Virgin spokesman advised passengers travelling between Scotland and London to use GNER East Coast trains.

One person died when a London-Glasgow express derailed near Kendal on Friday.

The train, which had about 120 people on board, crashed at Grayrigg at 2015 GMT.

Passengers wanting to travel between London and Scotland would be best advised to use services on the East Coast Mainline Virgin Trains spokesman

An elderly woman died and five other passengers were seriously injured in the crash.

Sleeper services operated by First Scotrail from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William were terminated at Edinburgh on Friday night with coaches laid on to take people to London.

Passengers travelling north were taken by coach from London to Edinburgh from where their journeys were due to be completed by rail.

The Virgin spokesman confirmed trains would run as normal to and from Lockerbie, and between London and Lancaster.

He added: "Passengers wanting to travel between London and Scotland would be best advised to use services on the East Coast Mainline, operated by GNER."

He said GNER would take Virgin tickets.

Closed 'for days'

Meanwhile, there will be express buses running between Lockerbie and Lancaster, as well as a "stopping" service for local journeys.

The spokesman added that engineering work had been due to take place on part of the line on Saturday so replacement buses had already been planned between Lockerbie and Carlisle.

The spokesman could not say how long the line would remain closed but said it would be "a number of days".

Virgin Trains set up a relatives response room at Glasgow Central Station and confirmed that 72 seats had been booked through to the city on the train.

Several of the train's carriages came to rest on their sides

Commander Ronnie Mellis of British Transport Police Scotland said only five people used the inquiry centre.

He said: "They were coming here to meet friends and relatives from this train.

"Everyone of them managed to get in touch with their family and luckily found them to be uninjured."

Dumfries and Galloway NHS Trust said staff at its main hospital, 90 miles from the crash site, were on stand-by to help deal with injuries.

An emergency telephone number for people concerned about passengers has been set up on 0800 056 0146 or, from outside the UK, 0044 207 158 0198.

People wishing to travel through Cumbria have been advised to call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 before starting their journey.