Northern tells customers 'do not travel' before 12pm Thursday on much of its north west rail network

Routes covering north of Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria are affected by this Do Not Travel alert. A number of routes have experienced issues with flooding, and several have seen closures and significant disruption.

Many routes south of Manchester are still currently expected to run with some exceptions.

Anyone who needs to make essential journeys tomorrow are to allow extra time for travel and to check carefully before setting off as the situation evolves.

As the rain continues to fall and flood waters rise flooding is becoming more widespread and colleagues across the rail industry are working hard to deal with issues as they arise.

Northern will continue to work alongside Network Rail throughout the night to prepare as many rail services as possible to resume on Thursday.

Despite this hard work, flooding is persisting, and it has become increasingly difficult to operate a reliable service.

Chris Jackson, Regional Director at Northern, said: “We have worked for the last few days, in conjunction with colleagues from across the industry, to keep our services operating. And, where possible we have supported those services with replacement buses when the flooding meant running trains was impossible.

“Unfortunately, we have had to make the difficult to advise our customers that they should not travel before Thursday 12pm across many of our north west routes.  The areas affected are those north of Manchester, Cumbria and Lancashire. Many of our services south of Manchester are still currently planned to run with some exceptions.

“The situation is constantly changing so I urge anyone who needs to make essential journeys over the next few days to allow extra time for travel and to check carefully before setting off.”

Flood waters are also affected roads across the region meaning the provision of rail replacement transport is also challenging.

For up-to-the-minute information about rail services please visit National Rail Enquiries or @northernassist on Twitter.