Network Rail has closed its railway between Whitehaven and Workington where the sea wall has been breached in three places.

The sea wall that protects the railway and the heavy stone, which provides the foundations for the railway track have been heavily damaged by the high tides caused by Storm Jonas.

Representative from Network Rail Ian Joslin said: "Once the extent of the damage is clear we will be able to plan the repairs so we can safely re-open the line to passengers as quickly as possible."

In the meantime, Northern Rail is running a replacement bus service between Whitehaven and Workington.

Until the repairs have been made to the railway line, all services from Barrow are planned to terminate at Whitehaven. Services from Carlisle will end at Workington.

A timeframe hasn't been estimated on how long the repairs will take, with Mr Joslin commenting that Network Rail's structural experts "are at the mercy of the tides for some parts of the assessment".