Media centre

Tuesday 10 Mar 2020

West Coast main line passengers urged: "Check before you travel"

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Rail passengers are advised to check before they travel today amid widespread disruption on the West Coast main line.

Unrelated issues impacted passengers in London, Northampton, Rugby and Preston.

• At South Kenton, on the approach to London Euston, overnight repairs to 1km of damaged overhead wires overran. This after engineers found more extensive damage than previously detected. Just after 1pm today electric trains began free-wheeling under the damaged wires on the ‘fast’ northbound line. Further repairs are planned overnight tonight.
• At Hanslope, near Northampton, a signalling failure halted all services leaving Euston station. Engineers are working on resolving this issue. Trains were expected to resume running at reduced speeds from 2pm.
• At Newbold, near Rugby, a cable fault led to further train delays. Network Rail engineers have now fixed this problem.
• Preston station was evacuated this morning when the fire alarm went off. Because of this, no trains could pass through the station.  No fire was found and the station has since reopened.

James Dean, route director for the West Coast Mainline South route, said: "I am really sorry to all passengers affected by the problems we have faced along the West Coast main line today.

“We are working very hard to fix each issue and get trains moving as quickly as possible. Even after we do, however, delays are likely for the rest of the day.

“Please keep checking National Rail Enquiries or your train operator for live travel updates.”