RAIL passengers travelling across the Pennines were hit by a string of delays after a landslip caused signal problems which forced services to be suspended.
Yesterday, following a weekend of disruption on the Huddersfield to Manchester line, signalling faults at Greenfield caused trains to be suspended at Stalybridge.
Northern Rail services were disrupted from 6.40am with rail replacement buses drafted in to ferry passengers from Stalybridge to Huddersfield.
First TransPennine services between Huddersfield and Manchester continued to operate but at a reduced rate with around a 40-minute delay to allow engineering work to restore the signalling.
The damage was caused on Sunday by a landslip at Scout Tunnel between Stalybridge and Mossley which forced Network Rail to close the line for several hours.
Rail passengers were offered bus replacement services, causing significant delays to journey times.
The latest disruption comes nearly two weeks after a £20m improvement works suspended services for nine days.
A spokesman for First TransPennine Express said: “We are extremely sorry for the delays and inconvenience to customers travelling between Huddersfield and Manchester. Network Rail have engineers on site and are working to correct the problems and return the service to normal.
“We want to ask customers to please check the details of the travel plans as buses will replace certain journeys and times are likely to be extended. We are focused on getting the train service back to normal as quickly as possible.”
Speaking of the improvements works, he added: “The line was handed back to us on time and we were able to operate a normal train service between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds. There are residual works at Stalybridge that were planned and ongoing. These will be completed by early December through planned engineering works on Sundays.”
To find out whether this will impact on your journey and to get alternative options, use the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner, or call TrainTracker on 0871 200 49 50.
