Two people were injured after heavy rain caused roof panels to collapse at Victoria railway station in Manchester.
The panels within the roof linking the Grade II-listed station buildings buckled owing to rain water, witnesses said. The incident at the city’s second largest mainline railway station came after recent refurbishment work to the roof.
Police confirmed on Tuesday that two people suffered head injuries and were taken to hospital. A small part of the concourse was fenced off and photographs posted on social media showed the bulging roof.
BREAKING: Reports That Manchester Victoria Roof Are Collapsing As We Speak! https://t.co/b4FZUZTyxY pic.twitter.com/t2WERioLcg
— Lovin Manchester (@lovin_mcr) October 18, 2016
Victoria Station's roof didn't last long... pic.twitter.com/RNZ72ilj0e
— Demented Manc (@DementedManc) October 18, 2016
Managers at Northern Rail, which runs the station, said the two people involved in the incident, just after 4.30pm, were not seriously injured.
A spokeswoman said one plastic roof panel above platforms one and two had collapsed. “It has not disrupted the station and services are running as normal,” she added. “Two customers are being seen by paramedics. They are not seriously injured. No platforms are closed.”
The station’s new 8,500 sq metre roof over its new concourse links the original station’s buildings. The “bubble roof” was the central part of a £44m upgrade.
Daniel Pratt, 25, a witness, said a “tidal wave” of water from the roof collapse landed on a train and a platform where people were walking. He said a group of between 20 and 30 commuters were hit.
“About a tonne of water dropped down and the train took the brunt of it but there was a big group of people who it landed on too, and one woman I saw who was knocked down and didn’t get up,” he said.
“I don’t know if she was knocked out but she didn’t move. She looked like she was in her 30s. I think it’s a fabric roof in different segments and one or two segments must have been damaged so the water wasn’t draining then suddenly it just collapsed. It was like the huge wave you get on the log flume at a theme park. I hope no one was injured.”
