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

[LNW-GW Joint]

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?

EMR also turned Liverpool services at Sheffield during the recent Ardwick blockade outside Piccadilly.
So just reinstated those plans.

 

[185143]

EMR also turned Liverpool services at Sheffield during the recent Ardwick blockade outside Piccadilly.
So just reinstated those plans.

Indeed they did, forgot about that.

 

[Killingworth]

Hopefully the catenary can soon be fixed but this incident highlights how vulnerable OLE is.

Over here in Sheffield we've had services to Manchester wrecked for the second day running, as have many others. Do we laugh or cry? Maybe its better for the MML not to be fully electrified

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?

Limited capacity so the service with the greatest need to maintain timings over the complex route to/from Norwich priority to go?

 

[lfc84]

Travel advice during urgent repairs to Manchester Piccadilly overhead wires

Rail passengers have been warned to plan ahead as work continues to repair damaged overhead wires close to Manchester Piccadilly station.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Quote from the above press release:

due to the complexity of the problem, repairs will need to be completed in a block beginning on Saturday night and running until Sunday morning (18 and 19 April).

An amended timetable will be in place until 11pm on Saturday night. From 11pm, no trains will run out of Manchester Piccadilly, including from platforms 13 and 14, and an amended timetable will be in place at other central Manchester stations.

Services into and out of Manchester Piccadilly will start again at 11am on Sunday morning.

 

[jfollows]

Hopefully the catenary can soon be fixed but this incident highlights how vulnerable OLE is.

It’s probably the first time I can remember that such a bad incident has affected services as they have since I started travelling into Manchester in 1973. Once in > 50 years is hardly “vulnerable”.

 

[The Planner]

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!

9600 minutes and counting

EMR also turned Liverpool services at Sheffield during the recent Ardwick blockade outside Piccadilly.
So just reinstated those plans.

They don't sign reversing on Stockport viaduct as far as I know.

 

[jfollows]

They don't sign reversing on Stockport viaduct as far as I know.

And TfW reversed at Wilmslow as usual I think.

 

[LowLevel]

9600 minutes and counting

They don't sign reversing on Stockport viaduct as far as I know.

Don't think deficient route knowledge would stop Stockport viaduct reversal - EMR drivers in my experience will generally do unusual shunts at locations they sign, sometimes commandering the guard to spot signals from the back cab. Multi class 170s etc might make it tricky though as I don't know if there's a walking route.

It was put to me earlier as an NR request to thin out the service, EMR started the day assuming they'd run.

 

[scrapy]

Ive never heard of someone not signing a reversal on a line they already sign! Why would you not sign a single ground position light on a route you sign? What makes EMT any different to the other operators on that route?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

And TfW reversed at Wilmslow as usual I think.

Certainly did yesterday (Thursday). Mostly were using platform 3.

 

[Mike395]

Tickets for travel on the Manchester Piccadilly route dated for Thursday 16 April can be used to travel today, Friday 17 April, at no extra cost. Ticket easements for travel tomorrow (Saturday 18 April) have now been revoked.

(https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/manchester-piccadilly-20260416/)

This has irked me this evening - I do not think it's reasonable to put out advice saying someone can travel then revoke that acceptance. A friend of mine and his son caught up in this today took the earlier ticket acceptance for tomorrow as gospel and has replanned to avoid today's chaos. Now they're looking at an expensive walk-up ticket to replace their cheap Advances in order to travel via Warrington to get them onto the main WCML. Completely unacceptable.

 

[jfollows]

I agree.
If they tell me I can travel on Saturday, but then “revoke” this, it’s not reasonable.
I may well have made plans to change to travelling on Saturday based on the earlier advice.

 

[Mike395]

For what it's worth - I do see they've got a problem tomorrow if they can't get the platforms in the main shed at Picc open and should be encouraging deferral of travel where possible. But the way to deal with that is just to subtly remove the advice re travelling tomorrow from the site but still allow travel for those who have already made arrangements without encouraging it. It's the active revocation of previous permission that is problematic.

 

[kermit]

I'm booked with an Advance ticket on the 15.43 EMR service from Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly tomorrow, Saturday 18th April. EMR's website, updated at 19.35, says they expect to run services as normal from Saturday morning. Network Rail's announcement talks about an amended timetable. My train is showing on Real Time Trains as running. Is it a fair assumption it will run?

 

[Efini92]

Ive never heard of someone not signing a reversal on a line they already sign! Why would you not sign a single ground position light on a route you sign? What makes EMT any different to the other operators on that route?

I doubt they don’t sign it. They can’t do it using 170’s if they don’t have a second driver.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

(https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/manchester-piccadilly-20260416/)

This has irked me this evening - I do not think it's reasonable to put out advice saying someone can travel then revoke that acceptance. A friend of mine and his son caught up in this today took the earlier ticket acceptance for tomorrow as gospel and has replanned to avoid today's chaos. Now they're looking at an expensive walk-up ticket to replace their cheap Advances in order to travel via Warrington to get them onto the main WCML. Completely unacceptable.

Agreed 100%.
I was caught up in this on Thursday. Travelling out before the incident happened, but having split my journey, returned to the station to find the job stopped. NRE was advising disruption until 0800 Friday, then 0900 Friday then all day Friday, with that the Saturday ticket easements were clearly published on NRE.

Once an offer (the easement) has been made, no decent person or organisation should even consider withdrawing it whilst there may be people relying on that offer to complete their travel.

I guess, yet again, that is why you have to go around being paranoid. Screenshot everything, take a photo of the closed ticket office window or broken vending machine etc. as evidence just in case.

I agree.
If they tell me I can travel on Saturday, but then “revoke” this, it’s not reasonable.
I may well have made plans to change to travelling on Saturday based on the earlier advice.

Exactly. Wholly unacceptable.

 

[KNN]

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!

For infrastructure issues, Avanti (or the relevant TOC) usually pay in the first instance and it's charged back to NR I think.

There must be a proper thread on this somewhere. There are whole departments involved in delay attribution. Where there's blame, there's a claim.

 

[dk1]

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 an evening equivalent but I can never remember the headcode.

9P46 17:00 down?

 

[saismee]

9P46 17:00 down?

That's the one.

 

[david1212]

Apparently Pendo rescued by a pair of class 20's.

Yep 20096 and 20107 courtesy of LSL

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.

.... 16 Class 57/3 were specifically converted to haul class 390 sets .... 20 odd years on they all still exist and while some may not be serviceable and others under maintenance not a single one was available for the intended purpose ....

 

[Krokodil]

.... 16 Class 57/3 were specifically converted to haul class 390 sets .... 20 odd years on they all still exist and while some may not be serviceable and others under maintenance not a single one was available for the intended purpose ....

What was wrong with how LSL recovered the set? They've got the recovery contract now and seem to have shifted it in a reasonable amount of time - no slower than when it was a DRS 57 in the middle siding at Crewe.

 

[The Planner]

.... 16 Class 57/3 were specifically converted to haul class 390 sets .... 20 odd years on they all still exist and while some may not be serviceable and others under maintenance not a single one was available for the intended purpose ....

Because DRS probably wanted to charge Avanti a significant amount for the ongoing contract, and they made a commercial decision to take that risk of not continuing it.

 

[tcp]

Hopefully the catenary can soon be fixed but this incident highlights how vulnerable OLE is.

Over here in Sheffield we've had services to Manchester wrecked for the second day running, as have many others. Do we laugh or cry? Maybe its better for the MML not to be fully electrified

Limited capacity so the service with the greatest need to maintain timings over the complex route to/from Norwich priority to go?

The OLE here is very old. I believe many of the wire runs here are DC conversion, so the original wires from the 1950s. All wires are fixed-termination, which is a system no longer used. This failure might highlight the vulnerability of extremely old OLE (if it is an age related failure). Not of OLE in general. I don’t think this should be used as evidence against new electrification.

 

[TheSmiths82]

The OLE here is very old. I believe many of the wire runs here are DC conversion, so the original wires from the 1950s. All wires are fixed-termination, which is a system no longer used. This failure might highlight the vulnerability of extremely old OLE (if it is an age related failure). Not of OLE in general. I don’t think this should be used as evidence against new electrification.

Surely this should have been replaced by now if it is that old?

 

[The Planner]

Surely this should have been replaced by now if it is that old?

Money. Remember that its only now that the 1970s OLE north of Crewe is being replaced.

 

[QueensCurve]

It’s probably the first time I can remember that such a bad incident has affected services as they have since I started travelling into Manchester in 1973. Once in > 50 years is hardly “vulnerable”.

OHLE doesn't often fail on this scale. It seems however that 'independent registration' Isn't a panacea.

 

[jfollows]

The OLE here is very old. I believe many of the wire runs here are DC conversion, so the original wires from the 1950s. All wires are fixed-termination, which is a system no longer used. This failure might highlight the vulnerability of extremely old OLE (if it is an age related failure). Not of OLE in general. I don’t think this should be used as evidence against new electrification.

Agreed.
DC conversion will be from heavier wires so should be robust, although dating from ~1954.
AC from ~1959.

 

[Lemmy282]

Looking back at post #4 it would appear the pan was not tangled in the OLE

 

[GraphitProjekt]

The OLE here is very old. I believe many of the wire runs here are DC conversion, so the original wires from the 1950s. All wires are fixed-termination, which is a system no longer used. This failure might highlight the vulnerability of extremely old OLE (if it is an age related failure). Not of OLE in general. I don’t think this should be used as evidence against new electrification.

All the structures look like BR mark1 so should be using an autotensioning system. Once you get onto the Hadfield line after Adwick you can see how ancient the OLE is as it's got an auxilliary catenary wire - perhaps the only place in the UK left with that. Also, a lack of tension probably wouldn't have played that much of a roll here as - as far as i know - that specific attribute is mostly about sagging on a hot day and also limiting top speed.

OHLE doesn't often fail on this scale. It seems however that 'independent registration' Isn't a panacea.

At least according to RTT there were electric services passing through the area on other tracks even on Thursday, particularly Blackpool trains. If true, this seems like independent registration in action, would have been totally impossible if it was mark 3 in question.

 

[QueensCurve]

The OLE here is very old. I believe many of the wire runs here are DC conversion, so the original wires from the 1950s. All wires are fixed-termination, which is a system no longer used. This failure might highlight the vulnerability of extremely old OLE (if it is an age related failure). Not of OLE in general. I don’t think this should be used as evidence against new electrification.

I believe the East lines and platforms 1-4 were originally 1.5kv DC. In the mid 1980s the contact wires on those platforms were noticeably thicker than the 25kV ones.