West Coast Main Line disruption after lightning storms overnight

Thursday 28 May 2026

West Coast Main Line disruption after lightning storms overnight

Region & Route:: North West & Central; | North West & Central: North West

Passengers using the West Coast Main Line are being warned of disruption after signalling systems stopped working during thunderstorms overnight.

Network Rail teams are urgently fixing blown fuses in the equipment at Weaver Junction near Runcorn which went offline early this morning. It’s where the West Coast Main Line connects to Liverpool and the North Wales coast.

While the exact cause is being investigated, the damage is in line with a suspected lightning strike.

During the repairs, some services are being reduced, delayed or cancelled, with only one train an hour running between Crewe and Liverpool, calling at Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway.

For that reason, anyone travelling today (Thursday 28 May) is urged to check National Rail Enquiries (www.nationalrail.co.uk).

Ticket acceptance is in place with Northern and Transpennine Express between South Parkway and Lime Street, Avanti West Coast between Crewe and Liverpool and Merseyrail between Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Central

Chris Wright, Network Rail North West route director, said: “We’re sorry to passengers affected by this disruption caused by the stormy conditions overnight. Our specialist signalling and telecoms teams are working as fast as possible to fix the faults and get the railway fully back up and running. I’d advise anyone travelling today to please check National Rail Enquiries or with their train operator for the latest travel information before they set off on their journey.”

For further updates people are also advised to check our West Coast Main Line X account @NetworkRailWCML.

For more information on how signalling systems are vulnerable to storms you can visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/signals-explained/

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
North West and Central Media Relations
Press Office
Network Rail
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

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.

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.

Media centre