Rail services through Salisbury resume weeks after train collision
Video report from ITV News Meridian's Chlöe Oliver
Rail services through Salisbury have resumed today.
The line has been blocked ever since two trains collided on the evening of Halloween.
13 passengers were taken to hospital and the driver Robin Tandy suffered life changing injuries with slippery rails being blamed.
Claire Mann, the Managing Director of South Western Railway, said: "As the investigations the RAIB have given initial findings around the adhesion of the rail so we've put in some extra measures… and we are really confident it's safe to open today."
Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway
Mark Killick, from Network Rail, said: "We operate one of the safest, if not the safest railways in Europe. We've been working over the last week to make sure that we fully check the railway before we re-open it."
"We've been carrying out leaf busting, cleaning of the tracks, the tracks have been shut for 2 weeks so it's really important that we clean the whole infrastructure".
The restart of services did not go without a hitch, however, with signalling issues being reported:
Just before 2pm a signal fault caused many trains to be delayed or cancelled.
However, for the passengers who were boarding the trains earlier on in the day, getting back on the rails was a welcome relief.
Rail passengers react to the return of the trains
Incidents like that of Halloween are rare and an independent investigation into the crash is underway.
Safety recommendations are expected to be published in the upcoming months.