Merseyrail passengers might have to get buses to work tomorrow

Merseyrail passengers face having to get replacement buses for the rest of the day and tomorrow as power supply problems have not been resolved.

Passengers travelling between Liverpool Central and Hunts Cross faced disruption after all trains were cancelled from around 6.30am today.

The estimated end of the disruption has continued to lengthen and now Merseyrail have said the disruption will stretch into tomorrow - meaning passengers travelling between the two stations must use replacement buses instead.

Merseyrail has apologised for the inconvenience and said the disruption stems from a cable fault which has resulted in a severely reduced power supply.

A spokeswoman told the ECHO: "Due to a cable fault on the Hunts Cross line, the power supply to the third rail has been severely reduced preventing the running of passenger services between Liverpool Central and Hunts Cross."

Disruption set to last until tomorrow

She added: "This disruption will continue for the rest of today and tomorrow (Friday).

"A rail replacement bus service is in operation between St George’s Plateau (for Liverpool  Central) and Hunts Cross in both directions calling at all stations until further notice."

Train officials stress rail tickets and passes are also being accepted on Arriva buses.

Passengers are advised to check for updates on Twitter and at  www.merseyrail.org .

Cable fault

The spokeswoman said tests by Network Rail to establish the source of the fault are continuing.

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She said: "Network Rail are currently testing over 6km of cable on the line to identify the location of the fault with a view to getting services back up and running as soon as possible."

Southport services are running as per normal timetable, but will start and terminate
at Liverpool Central.

All other Northern line services are unaffected at present.

The spokeswoman added: "We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience during this time."

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