Boxing day ‘explosion’ still being investigated
● NETWORK Rail has said it had no planned works in Runcorn in the early hours of Boxing Day when residents reported hearing an ‘explosion’.
A spokeswoman said there were no scheduled schemes for the area at 3am on Sunday, December 26, but this did not rule out maintenance work.
Some residents have remained sceptical that the noise, described as being a loud bang like an ‘explosion’, was Network Rail engineering works as reported to be the cause by police. ●
Network Rail had been carrying out an upgrade on the West Coast Mainline between Liverpool and London, which passes through Runcorn, over from December 25-27 but has not linked those works to the noise.
Among the works undertaken over those three days were improvements to the power supply near Milton Keynes, upgrade of points at Birmingham New Street and replacement of tracks in Carlisle.
Last week the Weekly News reported that some residents thought the noise was too loud to be rail works.
Sarah Heath, Runcorn Local Policing Unit commander, said officers had attended, spoke with witnesses, conducted enquiries and found the cause to be Network Rail engineering works.
Network Rail’s spokeswoman said: “As far as we know, there were no planned works that were taking place in the area.
“There was quite a lot of activity on Christmas Day and Boxing Day but we did look into there was anything scheduled.
“That’s not to say there wasn’t