Seven hour delays and no room at the inn – passengers hunker down after damage to the railway

Passengers faced long delays as they boarded rail replacement services Pic: Di Guzik

Passengers were faced with delays of up to seven hours after an overhead cable snapped on the railway between Preston and Lancaster.

Queues stretched down the concourse at the station, waiting for rail replacement services.

Many took the decision to check into hotels in the city for the night while engineers worked to get the train tracks back up and running.

One passenger, who was travelling back from London, told Blog Preston: “An announcement came over the tannoy saying there are no hotel rooms left in the whole of Preston tonight.”

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “”Our immediate focus is to fix the cables in time for start of service tomorrow.”

Virgin Trains said a rescue locomotive was sent to retrieve two trains and a third was involved in a train-to-train evacuation.

Northern and Trans Pennine Express services in the area have also been affected.

All Caledonian Sleeper services have also been cancelled.

Have you been affected by the delays? Let us know in the comments section.