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Friday 17 Apr 2026

Travel advice during urgent repairs to Manchester Piccadilly overhead wires

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Rail passengers have been warned to plan ahead as work continues to repair damaged overhead wires close to Manchester Piccadilly station.

Wiring above the railway was damaged on Thursday morning (16 April) and engineering teams from Network Rail worked through the night to assess and repair the damaged wires.

However, due to the complexity of the problem, repairs will need to be completed in a block beginning on Saturday night and running until Sunday morning (18 and 19 April).

An amended timetable will be in place until 11pm on Saturday night. From 11pm, no trains will run out of Manchester Piccadilly, including from platforms 13 and 14, and an amended timetable will be in place at other central Manchester stations.

Services into and out of Manchester Piccadilly will start again at 11am on Sunday morning.

Passengers have been urged to check with their train operators before travelling particular with big sporting events taking place, including the Manchester Marathon and Manchester City vs Arsenal on Sunday.

Overhead line equipment – or OLE – is the name for the overhead wires and other equipment you can see on electrified railway lines. It carries 25,000 volts of electricity to power electric trains.

It’s a critical part of the railway that allows Network Rail to run faster and greener electric services, replacing trains running on diesel.

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.”

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.”

For up-to-date travel information and detail on alternative travel please check www.nationalrail.co.uk.