Major disruption to / from Manchester Piccadilly - 16th April 2026

[tcm1106]

47 has just dragged the 390 onto Longsight, leaving the 20s at the stops.
The 47 will be heading back to collect the 20s provided it can do so before the possession is taken.

 

[Retorus]

Can't say I've ever seen them disable reservations specifically because of disruption. I have only really seen it happen when trains are out of position and, as part of the recovery, are getting turned around too quickly to allow them to download the reservations. It tended to happen a lot more back in the days of paper reservation tickets, for obvious reasons.

The overcrowding is there anyway, if they've had time to download the reservations it seems sensible to enforce them.

Really? It happens fairly frequently.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

How does delay/repay work for a London-Manchester journey that is stopped short at Stockport? My son is on the 1953 arriving Stockport around now, as far as I can see there are no trains on to Manchester so he will need to get a bus or taxi. What delay banding does this fall into, it is largely on time at Stockport but clearly he is going to be very late and out of pocket getting into Manchester

The time he arrives at the destination on his ticket is what counts. If he turns back (abandons journey ) he can claim a refund rather than delay repay.

 

[Straus]

How does delay/repay work for a London-Manchester journey that is stopped short at Stockport? My son is on the 1953 arriving Stockport around now, as far as I can see there are no trains on to Manchester so he will need to get a bus or taxi. What delay banding does this fall into, it is largely on time at Stockport but clearly he is going to be very late and out of pocket getting into Manchester

There were buses arranged at Macclesfield, I'd assume the same might be arranged for Stockport?

If not then, taxi, keep receipts and claim.

Unsure on the delay repay aspect, seems sensible to take a screenshot of the Google maps estimated time to drive between Stockport and Piccadilly at the time he arrives then submit that as the arrival time? Although if it was me and I arrived home at a similar time I'd not bother with the delay repay

 

[johntea]

I noticed earlier Transpenine Express managed to run several of the York - Manchester via Wakefield services as normal but start/terminate them at Victoria rather than Piccadilly which seems like a good backup option for them rather than outright cancelling the services (for some reason a couple did cancel all the station calls between Manchester and Huddersfield though)

 

[weastebusdepot]

47 has just dragged the 390 onto Longsight, leaving the 20s at the stops.
The 47 will be heading back to collect the 20s provided it can do so before the possession is taken.

Yes, left Piccadilly around 2248 as 0Z99.

 

[Trackman]

With the 20s (1Z99) I assume they had to use emergency coupling which is limited 5MPH, is this correct?

 

[Krokodil]

Nice to see the 20s displaying express passenger headcode ie two white disks ! I doubt it was very express though.Did they show one central disk (light engines) from Crewe to Ardwick?

A breakdown train going to clear the line is always a class 1 train.

 

[Paul AC]

With the 20s (1Z99) I assume they had to use emergency coupling which is limited 5MPH, is this correct?

Cropped+reduced photo of the coupling used (my photo):

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Apr 2026 ==

All lines south from Piccadilly, except the Down Slow, still blocked out as far as Slade Lane Jn as at 06:35 this morning. National Rail Eqnwuieries is reporting "major disruption expected until 09:00" which seems optimistic....

 

[billh]

A breakdown train going to clear the line is always a class 1 train.

Thank you, I should have remembered that from Ian Allan books in days of yor.

 

[Bantamzen]

Disruption still widespread this morning until at least 9am. I note earlier on in the thread there was talk of the works continuing into the weekend, is there any further info on this yet? I've got a very important date with a football ground in Barnsley tomorrow lunch starting out from Warrington, so I'm on tender hooks hoping my early morning travel isn't going to be borked.

 

[M60lad]

Looking at the latest from National Rail website their now stating disruption until the end of today so whether or not the plan now is to actually try and get the wires fixed today so work doesn't run through until weekend I'm not to sure.

It does seem looking at Tracksy that limited services are running via the through Platforms (13+14) all other platforms are currently blocked.

 

[Mike395]

There's the additional challenge I suspect playing on NR's mind here that the MML is blocked all weekend; they could really do with not having to make any emergency repairs over the weekend forcing everyone all the way to Leeds (realistically getting sufficient weekend RRBs at zero notice to do much else is going to be near impossible)

 

[M60lad]

There's also problems in forcing people over to Leeds as Huddersfield is closed again this weekend for Transpennine Route Upgrade works so that will probably be on their minds as well

 

[Bantamzen]

Looking at the latest from National Rail website their now stating disruption until the end of today so whether or not the plan now is to actually try and get the wires fixed today so work doesn't run through until weekend I'm not to sure.

It does seem looking at Tracksy that limited services are running via the through Platforms (13+14) all other platforms are currently blocked.

I don't think the text has been updated as it still refers to using yesterday's tickets today.

Edit: Northern are reporting disruption up to 14:00 (it was 09:00 first thing this morning). So I'm assuming the work is ploughing on today to get it cleared for the weekend as others have suggested.

 

[TUC]

I'm guessing EMR trains won't have the spare capacity needed to accommodate extra passengers.

So what? In circumstances like this everyone has to step up, including passengers accepting that trains will be crowded.

 

[zwk500]

A breakdown train going to clear the line is always a class 1 train.

Thank you, I should have remembered that from Ian Allan books in days of yor.

Specifically it should always be 1Z99: Extract from the North West & Central Timetable Planning Rules.

Although I have seen 1Z98 used if two rescue units have been mobilised.

 

[voyagerdude220]

So what? In circumstances like this everyone has to step up, including passengers accepting that trains will be crowded.

I get your point, but if the already offered alternatives are working, I think it's sensible to try to avoid overcrowding to prevent people being left behind at Stations.

 

[Howardh]

I've just had an automated delay repay form from Avanti - for a train I should have caught but didn't (on advance) because - since I booked the ticket Avanti altered the timings a little and e-mailed me saying I was then entitled to catch an earlier train - which I did and missed the bulk of the disruption.

I'll be fair and I won't claim for the train I wasn't on!

 

[SpannerWeilder]

Specifically it should always be 1Z99: Extract from the North West & Central Timetable Planning Rules.
View attachment 202490
Although I have seen 1Z98 used if two rescue units have been mobilised.

Forgive me if this strays off topic, but has 9 been updated? I ask as all our Thameslink services (I'm in Medway) are 9Pxx.

Edit: ignore that, I've just realised you're quoting from a regional rulebook. I must learn to read!

 

[zwk500]

Forgive me if this strays off topic, but has 9 been updated? I ask as all our Thameslink services (I'm in Medway) are 9Pxx.

Edit: ignore that, I've just realised you're quoting from a regional rulebook. I must learn to read!

I was quoting from the TPRs as it was marginally easier to access.

The actual Rulebook wording for Class 9 is 'Class 373 train [or] other passenger train if specially authorised'. Class 9s now cover Class 374, Anglo-Scot via Birmingham, Transpennine, Thameslink, East London Line, and Crossrail (at least). There's probably others. At some point there should probably be a review because currently some classes are very rarely used and Class 9 includes Long-distance High-Speed and all-stations metro trains.

 

[jfollows]

1M21 07:00 from Bristol Temple Meads is arriving platform 4 now. 10:10.

 

[WestCountry]

Forgive me if this strays off topic, but has 9 been updated? I ask as all our Thameslink services (I'm in Medway) are 9Pxx.

It's used on several routes to distinguish particular service groups that need special routing or priority from 'normal' class 1/2.

Once it was used for local stopping freight trains but those no longer exist.

 

[Efini92]

It's used on several routes to distinguish particular service groups that need special routing or priority from 'normal' class 1/2.

Once it was used for local stopping freight trains but those no longer exist.

It was also used for unfitted freight trains.

 

[saismee]

The actual Rulebook wording for Class 9 is 'Class 373 train [or] other passenger train if specially authorised'. Class 9s now cover Class 374, Anglo-Scot via Birmingham, Transpennine, Thameslink, East London Line, and Crossrail (at least). There's probably others. At some point there should probably be a review because currently some classes are very rarely used and Class 9 includes Long-distance High-Speed and all-stations metro trains.

In East Anglia we get 9XXX for additional services during disruption, as well as the fast 9P19 service that runs non-stop between Ipswich and Stratford. There's a evening equivalent but I can never remember the headcode.

 

[Dave S 56F]

Earlier ive just come on the ex huddersfield arr 11:18am man vic to Scarborough train to dewsbury which is on time the ex 10:42am man Airport Redcar Central train was running 15 mins late and also the huddersfield arr 10:56am manchester picc hull train was also heavily delayed coming in at huddersfield arr late at 11:18 after the scarborough train when it was supposed to be ahead of us westbound T.P.E. trains seemed undisrupted and eastbound man vic also undisrputed.

 

[TheSmiths82]

Who will foot the bill for this? Is it Network Rails problem as it is their equipment or will it be Avanti because their train broke the line? I would dread to think of the final Delay Repay bill!

 

[SirAlf]

If I understand things correctly TPE and Northern are running Sheffield - ManPicc but EMR aren’t, EMR saying because of the overhead line problem. Am I just being thick here, but don’t they both use diesel trains on the exact same route?

 

[josh-j]

Possible the OLE problem has caused capacity issues that have meant not all trains can run, and it was better to cancel all of one operator for some reason?

 

[185143]

Possible the OLE problem has caused capacity issues that have meant not all trains can run, and it was better to cancel all of one operator for some reason?

Quite possible. Plus EMR will likely be able to redeploy those crews elsewhere, whereas for TPE (in particular) they will likely be sat twiddling their thumbs as they don't sign anything else, and Northern are obviously the local stopping services.

Back in Covid, EMR withdrew entirely west of Sheffield. TPE ran (IIRC) 1tp2h. So I suspect it's in some contingency plan that EMR pull out first if there's limited capacity?