Merseyrail has said it is ‘truly sorry’ after widespread train disruption.
Ongoing adverse weather led to services throughout Merseyside being heavily impacted on Thursday as many lines suffered either cancellations or delays.
Temperatures in parts of the Liverpool City Region dropped as low as -9 degrees overnight, which prevented engineering staff from clearing the lines.
Although staff took precautionary measures, the local transport authority was unable to fulfil its regular scheduling, leaving many commuters affected.
Jane English, Merseyrail’s acting manging director, said: “We apologise to all our passengers today, who have faced disruption and cancellations on their journeys.
“We work hard to keep our services running whatever the weather, and when we fail to reach our own high standards we are truly sorry.
“We had crews out during the night, trying to protect the network from the cold weather.
“Colleagues from Network Rail were working using a multipurpose vehicle (MPV), which distributes snow and ice treatment on the conductor rails to prevent ice from freezing to them.
“The MPV scrapes ice off the conductor rail head (the top of the conductor rail) and sprays the rails with hot liquid anti-icer that prevents ice sticking to the conductor rail head.
“However, in extremely cold temperatures, as we have witnessed overnight, rails and points can refreeze despite being treated.
“Throughout the night Merseyrail had six trains travelling around the network, in an attempt to keep them warm and ready for the start of service.
“However, even with this work the cold temperatures affected some of the trains, causing weather related faults.
“Merseyrail tickets are being accepted on buses, and we have more staff out on the network working hard to get all services back up and running as soon as possible.
“People can receive reimbursements on the cost of their tickets by going to https://www.merseyrail.org/contact-us/refunds-and-compensation.”