Overview
- The overhead-wire failure outside Manchester Piccadilly, which involved an Avanti West Coast service late Thursday morning, triggered line blockages and mass cancellations across several operators.
- Following Thursday’s severe disruption, Friday saw more than 120 further cancellations with long‑distance routes to London, Liverpool and other cities heavily affected.
- Services are running to reduced timetables this weekend with ticket acceptance on other rail operators, Bee Network buses and Metrolink, plus replacement coaches on some routes and Delay Repay available.
- Network Rail plans a full repair during a scheduled closure from 11pm Saturday to 11am Sunday, with no trains at Piccadilly during that window and residual disruption expected after services resume.
- The damaged overhead line equipment carries 25,000 volts to power electric trains, which makes fixes complex, and an investigation into how the incident occurred is expected once repairs are complete.