Train was ‘seconds away’ from colliding with rubble – union

At least one commuter train came within seconds of crashing into rubble following a wall collapse at Liverpool Lime Street station, a union has warned.

Up to 220 tons of debris were strewn across four lines outside the city’s main hub following the incident during rush hour on Tuesday.

Hundreds of passengers were trapped on trains outside the station, while tens of thousands faced disruption as the station was cut off, with services beginning to resume on Thursday.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said it understands "at least one train was seconds away from colliding with the collapse".

It also praised the "magnificent response" of railway staff during what it says could have been a "major disaster".
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RMT general secretary Mike Cash said: "Without guards to keep passengers calm and lead safe evacuations we would have had the potentially lethal prospect of passengers de-training themselves in cold, dark tunnels and stumbling towards tons of debris and damaged 25,000-volt overhead power lines."

Mr Cash added the incident served as a warning that the driver-only trains planned by Arriva Rail North would be a "fundamental attack on safety for passengers and rail workers alike.

Network Rail said five large containers filled with tons of material had been stacked on elevated land next to the collapsed section of wall.

Three trains were evacuated, but no injuries were reported.

Services to Manchester, Warrington and Wigan were all severely disrupted by the collapse, which happened at 5:45pm on Tuesday between Lime Street and Edge Hill station.

Services which are now able to run are expected to be "extremely busy", according to the operator.

Network Rail chief operating officer Mark Killick said services in and out of the station, which handles over 15 million passengers a year, are expected to fully resume by 9 March.

He said: "Firstly, we are making the location safe. That is happening now.

"This will allow us to start step two – safely accessing the tracks in the cutting more than 10 metres below to clear the debris.

"We will then move on to step three – repairing the damaged railway."

(c) Sky News 2017: Train was ‘seconds away’ from colliding with rubble – union