Media centre

Thursday 16 Jan 2020

Passengers warned of delays after overhead lines damaged on the West Coast main line

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Passengers travelling between Lancaster and Oxenholme on the West Coast main line are being advised to check before they travel because of damaged overhead power lines.

Network Rail engineers are working as fast as they can to fix the 25,000-volt overhead cables at Hest Bank, near Lancaster, after they came down earlier today (Thursday 16 January).

No trains are able to run in either direction on the West Coast main line between Preston and Carlisle and replacement buses are in use between the two to keep passengers moving. Disruption is expected for the rest of the day.

Phil James, director for Network Rail’s North West route, said: “We’re sorry to passengers affected by the problems with the overhead power lines at Hest Bank. We have specialist repair teams on site working as fast as they can to fix the cables and restore power so trains can safely run again through the area.

“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 this evening and overnight to repair the power lines and test them so trains can run tomorrow.

Investigations into what caused the overhead lines to be brought down are ongoing.

For the latest updates on the disruption you can follow the Manchester Piccadilly Twitter account @NetworkRailMAN, or @NationalRailEnq, @TPEAssist and @AvantiWestCoast.

People can also check with their train operator or www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest travel information.