Train disruption Birmingham New Street: West Midlands Railway warns commuters of 'delays' to departures as disruption continues

West Midlands Railway said on X: “Disruption through Birmingham New Street is expected to continue into Thursday morning so please allow plenty of time for your journeys. Alternative transport options and ticket acceptances to follow.

“Please allow plenty of time in case of delays”. It added that there will be “Cross City North Disruption” today “due to overhead wire damage”/

It adds: “Cross City North is expected to be remain suspended until the afternoon. Rail replacement buses have been ordered to run between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley”.

It says: “Some buses will be 'fast' services calling at Birmingham New Street, Sutton Coldfield, Four Oaks, and Lichfield Trent Valley ONLY, and others will call at all stations. So please check before boarding. A bus will also shuttle between Lichfield Trent Valley & City”.

The incident of damaged electric wires at the train station was first reported just before 14:00 BST on Wednesday and the delays and cancellations continued into the evening, with New Street posting on X that it had brought in extra staff to help passengers.

New Street is the busiest railway station outside of London and the damage was affecting services for many operators, National Rail said. Services running from or through New Street to cities including London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff were among those affected, as well as many services within the West Midlands.

The wires were damaged between New Street and Water Orton in Warwickshire, according to post on X by Transport for West Midlands. A spokesperson for Network Rail said that at 13:40 BST "damaged overhead power lines were reported on the approach to Birmingham New Street station, near to Curzon Street".