New Year’s Eve trains delayed after cable theft near Doncaster

Rail passengers have been warned of delays and cancellations until the end of the year after signal cables were stolen in South Yorkshire.

National Rail said several routes were affected following the theft between Doncaster and Sheffield, and first reported it shortly before 05:30 GMT on Wednesday..

National Rail, which initially said the outage was expected to last until mid-morning, later said passengers could experience problems throughout the day.

Local services in South Yorkshire and services run by Northern, including trains from Doncaster to Hull and Scarborough, are among those affected.

CrossCountry services between Edinburgh and Birmingham New Street to Sheffield, Wakefield, Leeds and York were also affected.

TransPennine Express services running between Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes calling at Doncaster were also affected.

A spokesman for Northern said services were able to run again between Doncaster and Swinton from 09:30 GMT but warned that “fewer trains may run on this route as long as this problem persists”.

They also said trains between Sheffield and Doncaster/Adwick “may be delayed or revised”.

“During this disruption, northern rail ticket restrictions have been lifted, including advance and intensive restrictions in the affected areas,” they added.

A National Rail spokesman said: “The theft of signal cables between Doncaster and Sheffield means trains must run at reduced speed on all lines.

“As a result, services operating between Doncaster and Sheffield may be cancelled, delayed by up to 25 minutes, revised or diverted.

“Disruption is expected until the end of the day.”