Trains to resume after plane crash (From South Wales Guardian)

Trains to resume after plane crash

1:18am Monday 5th January 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

Services on a busy rail line which was closed after a fatal plane crash will be back to normal by mid-morning, Network Rail announced.

The West Coast Mainline was shut after the light aircraft ploughed into its lines at Little Haywood, near Stafford, on Friday.

The crash claimed the lives of pilot Alan Matthews, 59, from Walsall Wood, West Midlands, and married couple Nick and Emma O'Brien, 35 and 29, from Shirley, Solihull.

The tragedy left thousands of rail passengers stranded on Friday as services were brought to a halt.

British Transport Police (BTP) said they had handed the line back to Network Rail after an examination by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

A Network Rail spokeswoman said diversionary timetables had been set up and some work and tests would need to be completed, and advised any passengers to check with rail operators before travelling.

On Saturday, British Transport Police named the crash victims as Mr and Mrs O'Brien, who had two sons aged 18 months and 10. It is understood that pilot Mr Matthews knew Mr O'Brien through his work with a Birmingham-based demolition firm.

Mr Matthews, a member of a flying club based near Lichfield, Staffordshire, was said by friends to be a well-liked and proficient pilot who had almost two decades of flying experience. His wife, Jenny, issued a short statement paying tribute to her husband as a "loving, caring" man who would help anybody and loved flying.

The aircraft is believed to have been a Piper Cherokee based at the Sittles Flying Club, which operates from an airfield near the village of Fradley. Members of the club paid tribute to Mr Matthews as a "nice chap" with many years' experience as a pilot.

A statement issued on the club's website said: "We will miss him deeply. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family at this terrible time."

• Print
• Email
• Share