Cable theft on railway line between Shotton And Chester sees 30 trains ‘part cancelled’

Network Rail has said 30 trains were ‘part-cancelled’ this morning due following the theft of signalling cable on the railway line between Shotton and Chester

More than 30 trains were delayed following the cable theft which took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The disruption was mainly between Holyhead and Chester which impacted commuters catching trains from Shotton and Flint.

Network Rail has said it sent out engineers around 2.00am this morning “after a number of track circuits were down as a result of the cable theft between Chester and Shotton.”

“We managed to install new caballing by 5.30am and all power was restored by 7.40am.”

Network Rail spokesperson said, “the damaged cables meant that we had various locations which had blown fuses so it took until 10.00am for us to fully restore those.”

“We then had to send trains in each direction through on a speed caution to make sure it was all safe and everything was back on. ”

“Normal rail services resumed from midday, with knock-on delays into this afternoon.”

The spokesperson said: “This incident has been particularly disruptive – we had 30 trains part-cancelled – these were mostly services between Holyhead and Chester which had to be turned around at Rhyl –  and 35 trains delayed a total of more than 450 minutes.”

“Railway cable theft is a significant issue for the rail industry causing delays, disruption and holding up vital freight deliveries – all of which result in a huge waste of taxpayer’s money.”

“We’re not complacent in tackling these criminal acts and we’re doing everything we can to up security, protect key locations and reduce the impact on our Network.”

“We work very closely with our colleagues at the British Transport Police to make sure individuals found trespassing, vandalising, or stealing from the railway are caught and punished.”

You can help by reporting suspicious behaviour on the tracks to the British Transport Police:

• 0800 40 50 40
• Text 61016
• In an emergency call 999

Or you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.