Good evening,

I'd like toupdate you about theongoing closure of the railway between Aylesbury and Princes Risborough due to emergency work Network Rail is carrying out to repair and protect a damaged culvert beneath the tracks.

In January we completed temporary repairs toa Victorian-builtculvert, which carries the California Brook under the railway line to the south of Aylesbury station. Our temporary repair involved installing a propping system which has allowed trains to continue running safely until a planned renewal can be completed later this year.

Heavy rain over the last few days has caused water levels to surge in the damaged culvert preventing our engineers from being able to safely monitor the propping structure. This has meant that we’ve had to suspend all trains from running while we develop a plan to safely reopen the railway.

Our engineers have identified that excess water is coming from a weir at the nearby Grand Union Canal basin which continues to overflow due to recent and prolonged heavy rain. We are exploring options to reduce and better monitor water levels in the basin to help prevent further flooding downstream beneath the railway.

Once we’ve managed to stabilise water levels within the railway culvert, our engineers can resume their regular inspections of the structure to ensure it is safe for trains to run.

We are looking at a number of ways to monitor and control the flow of water which may involve the use of a pump in the canal basin and installing monitoring equipment. We are working closely with our partners at the Environment Agency and the Canal and River Trust to develop a plan that is safe and environmentally responsible.

The safety of passengers, staff and local people is our number one priority and we’re working hard to reopen the railway as soon as possible.