A landslip at the side of the tracks caused trains running between Liverpool and Manchester to be suspended for several hours.
The incident happened at Roby at about 4.45pm and resulted in the line being completely blocked throughout the evening.
Network Rail launched an investigation and services to and from Liverpool Lime Street met with delays, diversions and cancellations.
As a result, Northern ran their Blackpool to Liverpool service to Huyton, while Liverpool to Wigan and Warrington Bank Quay routes were cancelled.
Rail replacement buses operated between Lime Street and St Helens and services to Crewe were also affected.
Customers travelling between Liverpool and Manchester could use their tickets on Northern or East Midlands Railway services via Warrington.
A spokesperson for Northern said last night: "Northern apologises for any impact this incident may have on our customers' journeys this evening.
"We are working closely with colleagues at Network Rail to investigate the landslip, but it is too early to say when services will be back to normal on the route.
"In the meantime we are asking all our customers planning to travel on the route to think carefully about their journeys and to allow extra time for travel.
"There will be announcements at stations to help customers and and we will do everything we can to get people where they need to be."
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Later, Chris Jackson, Regional Director at Northern said: “I’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this evening’s disruption.
“Colleagues across the industry have worked hard to provide a service for customers travelling on the affected routes and I’m grateful for all the efforts to get people where they needed to be.”
