Overview
- Following Tuesday night's strong winds, fallen trees damaged overhead electric lines near Penkridge and between Bolton and Lostock, leaving key routes blocked and causing day-long cancellations and delays on Wednesday.
- In the West Midlands, a tree brought down the West Coast Main Line power in the Stafford–Wolverhampton section, disrupting Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, London Northwestern and West Midlands Railway services, and one train was reportedly evacuated with passengers walking along the track.
- Network Rail said repairs on the Wolverhampton–Stafford corridor will continue overnight into Thursday, with replacement buses running between Wolverhampton and Stafford and ticket restrictions eased for affected journeys.
- In Greater Manchester, damage between Bolton and Lostock stopped trains between Bolton and Preston, and by mid-afternoon no trains were running between Preston, Wigan and Bolton as engineers worked and some trips faced delays of up to 90 minutes.
- Operators are offering alternatives and ticket acceptance, including earlier rail-replacement buses, some Metrolink services for TransPennine Express tickets, and cross-acceptance with Avanti West Coast, reflecting that overhead lines carry 25,000-volt power that needs specialist repairs before trains can run.