A railway bridge in Warwickshire partially collapsed on Thursday after it was hit by a vehicle, cutting a key rail link and sending disruption across services used by passengers travelling between London and Scotland. A 64-year-old man was arrested after the crash.
The collision was reported to Warwickshire Police at Marston Lane, Whitestone, on Thursday afternoon, when the road between Forders Lane and Nuneaton Road was closed and the core railway line was blocked. Network Rail said the bridge was seriously damaged, but no-one was injured.
The disruption mattered because the damaged line sits on the West Coast Main Line, one of the country’s busiest intercity routes, with services running through London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Milton Keynes, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh. Passengers on Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway were told to expect delays, cancellations and revised journeys until the end of Friday.
The man arrested in connection with the crash was later detained on suspicion of endangering a railway passenger and failure to stop following a collision. Police did not say why the lorry hit the bridge, and it was not clear whether the driver had measured the vehicle before setting out. That leaves the immediate cause of the strike unanswered even as the impact on passengers was already visible.
By Friday, National Rail said the lines between Nuneaton and Rugby had reopened, but trains were still running at reduced speed and could still be cancelled, revised or delayed. Passengers were advised to check their routes before travelling and allow extra time. Those who no longer wanted to travel because of the disruption could ask for a full refund, and tickets dated for Thursday could be used on Friday.
Bridge strikes are a recurring problem for Network Rail. It said there were 1,666 of them between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, most caused by lorries and buses. Each incident costs about £13,000, and the annual repair bill comes to about £23m, a reminder that one bad strike can ripple far beyond the local road closure and into a major national rail artery.
For now, the immediate question is not whether the bridge caused disruption — it clearly did — but how quickly the damaged span can be made safe enough to restore normal service. Passengers were told the line could still be unsettled through Friday, and the repairs will decide how long this Warwickshire collision keeps affecting journeys far beyond the county.
