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Saturday 3 Sep 2022

Burst water main flood subsides revealing railway bridge damage

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

Rail passengers are being reminded to check before they travel as work continues to repair flood damaged tracks caused by a burst water main in east Manchester.

United Utilities has now stopped the major water leak onto the railway in Audenshaw, but it has revealed damage to a railway bridge.

For the last three days Bessemer Street bridge between Ashburys and Gorton stations has become a waterfall.

Thousands of gallons of fast flowing water have fallen from the railway above into the road below, flooding it and washing away mortar inside the structure.

It means trains travelling through the area will be suspended for a fourth day on Sunday 4 September while Network Rail engineers make urgent repairs.

Train services cannot run in either direction between Manchester Piccadilly, Rose Hill and Hadfield, as well as Stalybridge and Leeds via Guide Bridge.

Once again passengers are being advised to:

• Check www.nationalrail.co.uk before they travel
• Allow extra time for their journey
• Be aware their journey may involve a rail replacement bus service

Disruption to some TransPennine Express services continues, and anyone travelling in or out of Manchester from Yorkshire is strongly advised to check before they travel.

Lisa Milner, Network Rail’s North West route operations manager, said: “I’d like to apologise to passengers who continue to be impacted by the burst water main in Audenshaw. While it’s good news United Utilities are well underway with the repair to their broken pipe, the aftermath of more than 5km of railway being underwater for over two days was only revealed when the water subsided.

 “We’re working as fast as we can to make urgent repairs to Bessemer Street railway bridge so we can get trains running as normal again. Our advice remains to check National Rail Enquiries before you travel with longer journeys expected and some rail replacements buses in operation.”

Since the early hours of Thursday morning water has been flooding the railway from the burst pipe near Fairfield station.

It flooded a stretch of railway more than 5km long and yesterday Network Rail released drone pictures of the area affected.

For the latest updates on this ongoing disruption people can follow the @NetworkRailMAN and @NationalRailEnq Twitter feeds.

Alternatively National Rail Enquiries at www.nationalrail.co.uk has more travel information.