Tuesday 29 Jul 2025
Railway vandalism causes disruption between Preston & Blackpool
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central: North West
- | North West & Central
Engineers discovered 10 cables severed by vandals in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday 29 July).
The severed cables included a 650v power cable, fibre optics and signalling: all essential to the safe running of the railway.
Because of the damaged sustained, services into Blackpool are extremely limited until a repair can be carried out. Specialist teams are on site and have a plan to fix the cables.
Passengers are advised to check the National Rail Enquiries website to find out how their journey is affected.
The damage to the signalling also means that the barriers at Carleton Level crossing are down. Motorists are advised to plan an alternative route until the issue is resolved.
Darren Miller, Network Rail’s infrastructure director for the North West said: “The damage caused by senseless vandals overnight in Poulton-le-Fylde will unnecessarily delay the journeys of our passengers and level crossing users this morning.
“It also adds to the high workload of our front line teams, when they could be repairing other faults in the area. It is likely to cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds.
“I’m very sorry to passengers and road users who will suffer because of someone’s criminal actions. If you are planning to travel between Preston and Blackpool today, please check your service is running on the National Rail website.”
Teams are working to repair the cables and open the line as soon as possible. Passengers should in the meantime visit www.nationalrail.co.uk to plan their journey.
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
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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
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