RAIL passengers travelling to and from Bolton continue to face disruption after a train derailment in Salford.

The rear of an empty heritage train caught fire at 2.40pm yesterday causing it to derail near Salford Crescent station.

Train bosses were forced to rip up the timetable afterwards and dozens of services through Bolton were cancelled yesterday afternoon and evening.

Disruption continued into today, with delays, cancellations and replacement buses.

And things got even worse today when a signalling problem at Preston meant services between Blackpool and Manchester via Bolton were delayed by around 30 minutes around lunchtime.

A National Rail spokesman said noone could be sure when services would return to normal, but he would be surprised if things are not back to normal by next Friday.

He added: “The damage to the tracks should be repaired by the end of the week and we are asking passengers to stay patient and keep checking for service updates in the meantime.”

Service changes:

- Services between Southport and Manchester Airport via Bolton will call at Manchester Victoria rather than Manchester Piccadilly.

- Services between Southport and Manchester Victoria via Bolton will start and finish at Salford Crescent.

- A non-stop replacement bus is running between Bolton and Manchester Airport, taking 35 minutes.

- A replacement bus is running between Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly, taking 21 minutes.

- Services from Preston to Buxton and Hazel Grove via Bolton are cancelled until further notice.

- Trains between Manchester Airport and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Barrow via Bolton are cancelled until further notice.

- Services between Wigan and Rochdale via Bolton and Manchester Victoria are cancelled until further notice.

Visit this page for a live view of train services to and from Bolton.