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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Dan Haygarth

Trains cancelled after weather causes day of Merseyrail chaos

Freezing conditions mean Saturday's first trains will be cancelled on certain Merseyrail lines.

Icy weather on Friday (December 9) caused chaos on the Merseyrail network with power supply issues across the Northern Line. The Kirkby and Ormskirk lines were suspended for much of the day while a train crew shortage caused issues on the Wirral Line.

Additionally, services on the West Kirby line were suspended at around 1.30pm due to a welfare incident. Rail replacement buses were brought in to run between Birkenhead North and West Kirby.

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Passengers on board the 9.28am service from Maghull North to Liverpool Central were also hit with delays, with passengers saying they saw "sparks flying" off the tracks.

Kate McMullin who was a passenger on the service said: "The train was stop starting and moving so slowly.

"It was as though the train was slipping on the tracks.

"There were sparks flying everywhere and the lights in the carriages kept going on and off."

Kate claims an announcement by the driver told passengers that due to ice on the lines the train was 'struggling to get power'.

She added: "The driver said they had been told by signalling to 'just keep going but slowly'.

"Inevitably I, like many others, were late for work.

"It is quite ridiculous how at the first sign of ice the whole rail network can't cope."

Rail replacement buses were in use between Sandhills and Kirkby and Sandhills and Ormskirk to deal with the issues on the Northern Line. But there were reports of passengers having to wait for up to an hour in the snow and hail to get on a bus.

In a tweet Merseytravel said: Due to bad weather in the Liverpool City Region all Buses and Trains are subject to severe delays and cancellation, please check with the operators before travel."

Normal service resumed on the Kirkby and Ormskirk lines at around 4pm. However, the weather is expected to continue over the weekend leading Merseyrail to advise passengers to check before travelling.

This means that, on Saturday (December 10), the first service on the Ormskirk, Kirkby, Chester and Ellesmere Port lines will be cancelled - a rail replacement bus service will run instead.

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