A TRAIN service connecting Newport with the south coast of England has been cancelled indefinitely, after a major railway crash.

An hourly service connecting Cardiff Central with Portsmouth Harbour in Hampshire has been cancelled following the serious crash involving two trains in Salisbury last night (Sunday, October 31).

The collision, which involved two passenger trains, saw 17 people injured, and the driver of one train trapped.

Railway bosses have warned that the line will remain closed today (Monday, November 1), and disruption can be expected for several days.

Crash investigators are on site at Fisherton Tunnel in Salisbury, where the Great Western Railway and South Western Railway trains collided.

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One of the two trains involved – the Great Western - was travelling to Bristol Temple Meads when the crash occurred.

Usually, that train would have continued all the way across the border to Cardiff Central, stopping at Newport Railway Station too.

But, scheduled engineering works in the Severn Tunnel closed the line to the west of Bristol, meaning the train was set to terminate early.

Instead, any passengers hoping to travel into Wales were set to travel on replacement bus services, which have been ferrying passengers between Newport and Bristol – and everywhere in between, every Sunday in October.

It came as Network Rail worked on the tunnel, in a bid to prevent future disruption.

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How long is disruption expected to last?

Right now, it is not immediately clear how long the disruption is expected.

Much of it depends on the work of the British Transport Police (BTP), and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation.

But, for the meantime, the hourly service between Newport and Portsmouth is cancelled.

Usually, it departs at 44 minutes past the hour during weekdays.

Live train timetables suggest that services may resume tomorrow, albeit delayed or severely disrupted.

What has been said about the incident?

A spokesman for Great Western Railway said: “At 18.45 yesterday evening a GWR and SWR train collided just outside Fisherton Tunnel near Salisbury. All customers and colleagues are accounted for, and a number of people have been taken to hospital. Our thoughts are with them, and we thank them for their patience and understanding.

“The railway will be closed in the area today, affecting SWR trains between Exeter and Basingstoke, and GWR trains between Westbury and Portsmouth, while specialist teams continue their investigations, and we urge customers not to travel on this part of the network.

“We’re extremely grateful to the emergency services who attended the scene and helped our customers and staff in extremely difficult circumstances.

“We will be co-operating fully with the British Transport Police and Rail Accident Investigation Branch to understand how this incident happened.”