Power failure causes major disruption on railways across the North West with trains cancelled or delayed
Trains across Lancashire and indeed the whole North West are facing major disruption currently.
Trains across the North West of England and the West Midlands are experiencing severe disruption this afternoon due to an electrical failure.
As a result, trains across the North West will be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.
Disruptions were first reported at around 2:00pm this afternoon and they are expected to last until the rest of the day.
This is due to a major electrical failure at a communications centre.
In a statement, National Rail said: “A failure of the electricity supply at a communications centre means trains across the Greater Manchester area, the Midlands and the North West of England are being disrupted.
“This is expected to cause major disruption until the end of the day.
“If you’re travelling with Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express or Transport for Wales in the affected area, your train may be cancelled, delayed or revised.
“Please allow extra time to make your jorney this arternoon as you may need to use an alternative route or change trains partway through to reach your destination.”
Northern and Transpennine Express are advising customers not to travel.
Holders of a Transport for Wales ticket will be able to use rail replacement buses that are opperating between Warrington Quay and Manchester Piccadilly at no extra cost, whilst all train operators have put into place ticket acceptance and ticket easements for travellers today.
Ticket acceptance is an arrangement where one transport operator agrees to accept another operator's tickets during service disruptions.
You can find more details, including travel advice from all the affected train operators on the National Rail website here.