Lines into Piccadilly will close from 11pm on Saturday until 11am on Sunday with no trains running from the station during that period
A busy Manchester Piccadilly station after a train from London brought down overhead power cables just outside the station.
Rail passengers are warned to brace for a weekend of continued travel disruption following major damage to overhead lines at Manchester Piccadilly. Troubles began on Thursday, April 16, after a train struck wiring on its approach into the station, causing what officials have desired as “significant damage over a long distance”
Despite engineers working through the night to restore services, the scale of the damage means full repairs cannot be completed until this weekend, the MEN reports.
Lines into Piccadilly will close from 11pm on Saturday, April 18, until 11am on Sunday, April 19. All trains running from the station, including the usual hourly service to Liverpool Lime Street, will be cancelled during this time.
Services will only resume late on Sunday morning, while an amended timetable will be available across the network. Passengers have been urged to plan ahead.
The overhead line equipment, which carries 25,000 volts of electricity to the trains, is a critical part of the railway and the damage has caused chaos across multiple routes, in particular long-distance services.
Network Rail’s North West route director, Chris Wright, said: “I am sorry to our passengers who have been impacted by the damage to our overhead wires outside Piccadilly.
“The damage was sustained over a large area in a complicated location on the railway. Our engineers have worked tirelessly to fix the issue, and we worked closely with train operators to offer an amended timetable today, which will continue into Saturday.
“We are carrying out a full repair on Saturday night. To do this, we need to close the line into Manchester Piccadilly between 11pm on Saturday and 11am on Sunday. Please, if you are planning to travel into Manchester by rail on Sunday morning, plan your journey in advance and allow extra travel time.”
While most services have now resumed, disruption continues particularly on routes linking Manchester and London. Mr Wright said: “We continue to have disruption on London routes in particular, where those trains are turning back at Stockport.”
Services operated by Avanti West Coast between Manchester and London Euston are running to a significantly reduced timetable, with trains expected to be extremely busy.
Simon Turner, Head of Operational Readiness at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’ll be operating a significantly reduced timetable between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston on Saturday 18 April due to the ongoing issues with the overhead electric wires. These services are expected to be extremely busy, and we strongly advise customers to check before they travel.
“We’re continuing to work with Network Rail and industry partners to help customers get to their destinations via alternative routes. We’d like to thank customers for their patience and remind anyone whose journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more to claim Delay Repay compensation.”
Passengers are urged to check for the latest updates via national rail as services may change at a short notice.