Network Rail today apologised to rush-hour train passengers delayed by a fault with signalling equipment

The problem, which engineers finished fixing at 8am, caused affected services between Manchester’s Oxford Road and Victoria stations out to Eccles and Salford.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "We're really sorry to all train customers inconvenienced by signalling problems in Manchester.

“Our engineers were on site quickly and put in place a manual system to keep trains moving while they carried out repairs. The fault is now fixed but it will take some time for train services to return to normal. 

Services between Manchester Piccadilly and Bolton and Preston were today subject to delays and cancellations.

Buses have been requested for Bolton, Newton-le-Willows and Manchester Victoria to support.

Customers travelling to Manchester from Liverpool are advised to travel via Warrington.

Ticket acceptance has been agreed for East Midlands Trains, TransPennine Express and Arriva Trains Wales customers.

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain’s railway – the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.6bn journeys by rail every year - double the number of 1996 - and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We’re investing £38bn in the railway by 2019 to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.