‘Reckless’ offender slammed as bicycle thrown onto railway at Christchurch is run over by train, hitting South Western Railway travel between Southampton Central and Weymouth

A train smashed into a bicycle which was thrown onto the railway at Christchurch, creating hours of travel chaos on Sunday.

Network Rail slammed the incident as a “reckless” act, and is helping British Transport Police (BTP) investigate the incident, which happened around 2.40pm and disrupted services for the rest of the day.

No passengers were injured in the collision, which happened at the town’s station.

A Network Rail spokesperson told the A&T: “The highly dangerous and reckless actions of the individual resulted in train services being disrupted as the power to the third rail needed to be switched off to allow Network Rail responders to inspect the incident train and remove the bicycle from the tracks.

“Thankfully, no passengers were injured, however the rail required repairs and services resumed at around 5.30pm.”

South Western Railway ticket holders were able to use a variety of bus routes while the lines were closed.

Passengers were also authorised to book taxis between Weymouth and Southampton Central from around 4pm as the hold-ups continued.

Normal service was finally said to have resumed around 10.20pm.

The Network Rail spokesperson continued: “We are working closely with the British Transport Police to identify the suspected individual involved and are sorry to any passengers whose journeys were impacted because of this mindless behaviour and thank them for their patience and understanding.”

A BTP spokesperson said: "Officers received reports at around 4pm on Sunday (30th June) of a bike having been thrown onto the tracks that had become wedged underneath a train.

“Enquiries are ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016, quoting reference 356 of 30th June."