IT has been one of the quietest weeks in the history of Pewsey railway station, with no passenger trains running in the past 72 hours and no prospect of services being restored until the weekend at the earliest.

It is the first time in living memory passenger trains have failed to run on the line which goes through Hungerford, Great Bedwyn and Pewsey.

Speed restrictions were operating all last week on the Pewsey line causing timetable chaos because of the track inspections taking place in the aftermath of the Hatfield crash.

Railtrack, which maintains the rail network on which a number of companies operate the trains, confirmed that a section of the line between Pewsey and Savernake was known to have defects which needed repairing.

But it was brought to a total halt by the weekend storms which resulted in flood-swollen rivers threatening to wash away bridges between Taunton and Exeter.

Yesterday First Great Western Trains organised coaches to pick up passengers at Pewsey and take them to Swindon where they found they were faced by more delays because of a goods train collision near Bristol.

The county is bracing itself for another weekend of storms. Wiltshire County Council is making contingency plans to move people away from flooded areas as more rain arrives to swell already rising river levels.

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