Back on the Tracks

The Cheltenham Festival means up to five times the usual number of passengers use the Western Network, some of whom have had an early-morning tipple.

Life at one of the UK's busiest transport hubs. Staff at Paddington are given a moment's notice before the arrival of the prime minister.

A passenger, who has dropped their overnight bag on the tracks, threatens to jump on the live rail to retrieve it. A major power failure causes signal problems.

While the lines are quiet over Christmas a mega-crane is brought in to replace track near Oxford.

Maintenance work is underway on England's longest railway tunnel, as the Victorian infrastructure is adapted to support today's large freight trains. They begin the task of lowering the rail bed and bringing the tracks into the centre of the tunnel.

At Paddington, there's a fire alert as smoke is seen smouldering on the tracks outside the station. In Tiverton, a mile-long stretch of the track on the busy mainline needs to be replaced, but the weather begins to turn.

Staff prepare for a VIP visitor, who turns out to be Prince Harry, while a buckled rail is threatening to disrupt the timetable at Route Control in Swindon. A failed freight train requires a rescue locomotive as delays and cancellations stack up.

This week at Paddington, a high speed train comes to an abrupt halt in the station as there are fears it's collided with something on the track.