The escaped horse was noticed ambling along the train tracks in the West Midlands on Sunday morning. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark Comments
A curious horse triggered disturbance for morning commuters after taking a leisurely stroll… directly down an active railway line. The pony was sighted on the tracks at Albrighton in east Shropshire – situated between Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and the Shropshire village of Cosford – on Sunday, February 1st at approximately 10am.
Network Rail Birmingham suspended the line temporarily to prevent any oncoming trains hitting the bewildered animal or any personnel dispatched to escort the creature to safety.
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The organization verified the line was shut down for roughly thirty minutes, creating hold-ups for morning commuters and travellers on the regularly congested route linking Birmingham New Street and Shrewsbury train stations. A unit from Network Rail was able to locate the horse, and successfully removed it unharmed.
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A representative for Birmingham New Street mentioned that Network Rail personnel had been successful in persuading the horse to leave the track, and the matter was resolved by 10.30am.
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Network Rail Birmingham posted on social media: “Our teams have taken away the horse on the railway at #Albrighton which resulted in lines being blocked earlier.
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“Services can now run without issues between Wolverhampton and Cosford. We appreciate your understanding while teams endeavoured to fix the problem.”
An X user – Montagu-Dunk – humorously commented: “Ten hours to undertake a risk assessment. Two hours to don an orange suit. Ten people to visit Tesco to procure a carrot. Five hours to procure a vet, in case. Cobra meeting in Downing Street. Sixty page diversity report.”
In December 2025, Network Rail revealed trains were stopped after a suspected AI-created image that appeared to indicate major damage to a bridge surfaced on social media following an earthquake.
The earth tremor was felt throughout Lancashire and the southern Lake District.
Network Rail stated it was informed of the image, seemingly displaying significant destruction to Carlisle Bridge in Lancaster just before 1am, and suspended rail services across the bridge while safety checks were performed.
Network Rail declared the railway line was fully reopened at around 2am and it has urged people to “consider the significant impact it could have” before generating or disseminating fake images.
“The disruption generated by the creation and spreading of fabricated images and videos such as this results in an entirely needless delay to passengers at a cost to the taxpayer,” a spokesperson stated at the time.
“It adds to the substantial workload of our frontline teams, who labour extremely hard to keep the railway operating smoothly,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“The safety of rail passengers and staff is our top priority and we will consistently treat any safety concerns seriously.”
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The British Transport Police mentioned it was “notified” of the occurrence but there was no ongoing investigation into the event.
Network Rail noted that 32 services, encompassing passenger and freight trains, experienced delays due to the hoax.