Thursday 30 May 2024
Passengers urged to check before they travel after freight train derailment affects services north of Preston
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central: West Coast Mainline South
Services in Lancashire and Cumbria have been suspended after a freight train derailed on Wednesday afternoon.
Network Rail engineers are working as fast as possible to make the route safe for passengers.
Avanti Trains have issued a ‘do not travel’ notice for passengers affecting journeys between Preston and Scotland. Transpennine services are also affected. Disruption is expected for the rest of the day.
Kara Wood, Network Rail’s acting North West route strategy director, said: “We’re sorry to passengers affected by the derailment. We have specialist repair teams on site working as fast as they can to make the railway safe.
“Disruption is expected for the rest of the day, so we’re urging people to plan their journeys and check before they travel with their train operator or National Rail Enquiries.”
Work will take place throughout the day to reopen the line as soon as possible.
Notes to Editors
Customers making journeys north of Preston are advised to check the National Rail enquiries and Avanti West Coast websites before travelling for the latest updates.
If your journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more you can claim Delay Repay compensation: Delay Repay | Train Delay Compensation | Avanti West Coast.
Customers with tickets dated yesterday, Wednesday 29 May and today, Thursday May 30 to or from destinations north of Preston can use their Avanti West Coast tickets tomorrow, Friday 31 May at any time via the same route.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
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Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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