Widespread delays and cancellations on Metrolink

Tram at Metrolink stop in Rochdale

Metrolink suffered widespread delays and cancellations on Thursday after a contractor crashed their vehicle into a vital rail junction.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded or hit by delays as engineers desperately worked to restore the network. A full investigation has been launched into the exact cause.

Metrolink officials said the failure was the result of an outside contractor's rail vehicle hitting signalling points at Cornbrook during overnight maintenance work.

Services were manually operated through Cornbrook junction which held up other lines.

Tram services were then suspended between Cornbrook and MediaCity UK for the rest of the day to allow the rest of the lines to operate better.

A short network-wide shutdown had been anticipated but engineers managed to maintain services on most lines,

Instead a revised service and additional bus services were set up. Oldham's trams were running to East Didsbury and Shaw and Crompton but not to Rochdale.

Services were running as normal this morning.