TRAINS coming to and from Cam and Dursley railway station have been reduced to a crawl at a railway bridge near Berkeley as cracks have appeared in one the supporting walls.

National Rail has sent watchmen to keep an eye on the bridge on the Gloucester to Bristol line around the clock to ensure the problem does not get any worse.

The rail operator said the bridge did not need to be closed as it was “structurally sound” but had put in a 5mph speed limit as a precaution.

Local commuter Chas Townley recorded one train having to creep over the bridge:

The sizeable crack has appeared in the supporting wing of the bridge due to a slight landslip at the bridge to the south of the station near Tumpy Green fields.

National rail spokeswoman Mavis Choong said: “Basically there’s nothing wrong with the bridge as the integrity of the bridge is sound.

“We suspect that earthworks beneath the track have moved and as a result has pushed the wing structure itself.

“As a precaution there’s a speed restriction of five miles per hour and we have deployed watchmen to monitor it 24/7.”

She added that it was unknown when the speed restriction would be removed as they were waiting for the results of an ongoing investigation to fully establish the extent of the problem and how it can be fixed.