Passengers have described the “panic and distress” when a train travelling at about 80mph partly derailed after hitting a landslide in Cumbria, north-west England.

Emergency services declared a major incident after the high-speed Avanti West Coast service crashed in stormy conditions at 6.15am on Monday.

None of the 77 passengers and 10 crew onboard the 11-carriage Glasgow to London Euston service were injured.

The derailment prompted the MP Tim Farron, in whose constituency the incident occurred, to question whether enough was being spent on the busy stretch of west coast mainline between Carlisle and Glasgow, which is prone to landslips.

Farron, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said he had felt “utter dread and horror” when the first reports emerged, and then enormous relief and gratitude that there were no injuries.

One of those onboard the train described a “flash and a bang” while the service was travelling at speed through Shap, the highest point in England on the busy west coast mainline.

Nathan Cunningham, 20, said he woke to “scraping sounds along the carriages” before the train came to a sudden halt.

He told the Guardian: “I wasn’t thinking anything of it, [then] I looked along the carriage and there was panic. The staff were running through the carriages checking in if everyone was OK. The passengers were quite distressed and the staff seemed distressed – they seemed quite shocked by it. Thankfully there was no injuries.”

The collision left the front section of the train’s first carriage badly damaged. It remained upright despite having partially left the tracks.

Dozens of police, ambulance and fire appliances went to the scene and the major incident was later stood down.

Cunningham, from Irvine in Scotland, described how he and dozens of other passengers walked along the side of the rail line after being evacuated in the dark in driving rain.

James Burrow said he felt a “flash and a bang” before the train suddenly stopped. Speaking at the Shap Wells hotel to where train staff and passengers had been taken, he said: “I was very confused. A lot happened very quickly … At first we thought a car or something had hit the train. I’m just glad everyone was OK.”

Network Rail said early indications suggested the train struck a landslide along the notoriously weather-beaten stretch of rail, which sits at about 275 metres (900ft) above sea level.

Farron, the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, called for an investigation into whether enough resources were being spent on the line.

He told the Guardian: “A landslide here is not an unusual thing to happen. North of here going into Scotland there are regular rail cancellations because of landslips.

“It’s a matter of record that the Department for Transport [and] Network Rail chose to defer indefinitely, maybe even cancel, TriLink, the modernisation of the track programme in north-west England down the south of Scotland.

“That is a bad decision. Whether this [derailment] is caused by that or not, I don’t know – none of us do yet. But we definitely do know that landslips around Lockerbie, for example, happen quite regularly.”

He added: “The Rail Accident Investigation Branch are being called into action quite a lot – and they’re a great outfit … but they shouldn’t have to do as much work as they are currently doing. Even if [the derailment] has got nothing to do with that, this is a wake-up call.”

Sam MacDougall, an operations director for Network Rail, said an investigation was under way into the cause of the derailment.

“Early indications would suggest that the train has struck a landslide just north of where it now stands,” he said. “The train design has worked extremely well – the vehicle has remained upright, albeit the leading vehicle has derailed.”

Asked if he was confident that sufficient resource was allocated to checking land conditions after storms, MacDougall said incidents like this were “exceptionally rare”.

“We put a significant amount of importance and effort into managing our risks around structures, earthworks and extreme weather. That will clearly form part of the investigation,” he said. “We do run a very safe railway and have very robust guidelines and processes for managing our earthworks and structures risks alongside the ever-changing risk of extreme weather.”

MacDougall praised the actions of the driver for bringing the train to a safe stop when it had been travelling at about 80mph. “The driver did a superb job in bringing the train to a stand and initiating an emergency call … to ensure that no other trains can operate in the area,” he said.

The derailment is expected to cause disruption on major rail networks until at least Tuesday, with the west coast mainline closed north of Preston.

The train company Avanti West Coast said on social media: “Due to a derailed train between Penrith North Lakes and Oxenholme Lake District, all lines are blocked.”

A spokesperson said later: “At 06.10hrs today, 3 November, the 0428 Avanti West Coast service from Glasgow to Euston was reported to have derailed at Shap in Cumbria. Our priority is the wellbeing of everyone who was onboard and getting them safely off the train. We are assisting emergency services who are on the scene.

“As a result, all lines are blocked north of Preston. Please do not attempt to travel north of Preston today. We’ll provide further information in due course, but it is likely there will be significant disruption to our network for a number of days. We are strongly advising customers not to travel north of Preston today.”

In a post on X, the British Transport Police said: “Officers were called at 6.15am today to reports of a train derailment in near Shap, Cumbria. Thankfully, there are no reported casualties and passengers have been safely escorted from the train. Officers remain on scene alongside emergency services responding to the incident.”