Major disruption at Wigan North Western after overhead wires damaged

All lines between Bolton, Wigan North Western and Preston were halted earlier today (Friday, May 24) due to damage to overhead electric wires near Leyland.

Some lines have since reopened, and a limited service is now able to run between Bolton, Wigan North Western and Preston, running at reduced speed. Major disruption will still occure due to the amount of trains in and out of Preston.

Major disruption can be expected to journeys as trains are expected to be delayed by up to 60 minutes, cancelled or revised.

National Rail expects the disruption to continue until at least 5.30pm.

Trains from Wigan Wallgate are unaffected.

Services affected are:

Northern between Rochdale / Manchester Victoria / Stalybridge and Preston / Blackburn, and also between Manchester Airport / Hazel Grove / Liverpool Lime Street and Preston / Blackpool North

TransPennine Express between Manchester Airport and Edinburgh / Glasgow Central

Virgin Trains between London Euston and Edinburgh / Glasgow Central

Alternative travel advice:

If you are travelling with Virgin Trains, you may use the following services on all reasonable routes:

LNER - such as between London Kings Cross, York and Edinburgh

CrossCountry - such as between Leeds and Edinburgh / Glasgow Central

TransPennine Express - such as between Manchester and York / Newcastle

Northern

ScotRail - such as between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central

If you are travelling with Northern, road transport is now in place:

3 x Full size coaches at Preston, eta 13.30 routes to be confirmed when vehicles arrive.

1 x Double decker bus at Wigan North Western 13.20 to run to Preston via Leyland and Euxton Balshaw Lane.

1 x Matadars eta Bolton 13.45 to run stations to Preston.

1 x B&N Travel eta Wigan North Western 14.45 to run stations to Preston.

1 x Tyrers Travel eta Preston 14.00.

1 x Full size Blackpool Transport eta Blackpool South 13.45 to run stations to Preston.

1 x Full size Blackpool Transport eta Blackpool North 13.45 to run stations to Preston.

1 x Full size Tyrers eta 14.00 Blackpool North to run stations to Preston.

1 x Double Decker eta Bolton 13.10 to run all stations to Preston via Chorley.

If you are travelling with TransPennine Express, please see the following alternative route map. You can use:

TransPennine Express services between Manchester and Newcastle via York

CrossCountry and LNER between York and Edinburgh / Glasgow Central

ScotRail between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central

Virgin Trains on all reasonable routes

For full details visit the National Rail website