RAIL services on the line running between Malvern and Hereford are still being disrupted after a deep hole opened up under the tracks at Colwall.

The hole was discovered yesterday morning following several hours of heavy rain. It is near where a hole opened up three months ago.

Network Rail spokesman John Baker said this morning that the line will remain closed today, but it is hoped to reopen the line for start of service tomorrow.

At the moment First Great Western High Speed Train services are terminating at Worcester, but services formed by local units and London Midland services are running to and from Great Malvern.

Both train companies say they are having difficulties finding road transport to replace services running to and from Hereford.

This morning one commuter service, the 7.39am from Great Malvern to Birmingham New Street, failed to run, and passengers had to wait 25 minutes for the next train.

Mr Baker said: "Network Rail engineers believe they have found the cause of a large hole which emerged during flooding at Colwall atation yesterday.

"They excavated overnight down to a depth of 2.7 metres where a 225mm diameter clay pipe that had collapsed was discovered.

"Water was flowing from this pipe and had saturated the surrounding ground. A nearby chamber has now been dammed and water is being pumped from here. This has stopped the flow of water from the collapsed pipe.

"They now plan to dig out the saturated ground surrounding the hole and install concrete sleepers as a new base with drainage laid on top. Then new ballast and track will be reinstated."