Longsight disruption 21st August

[WatcherZero]

Suspicious bag found on a train at Longsight depot at 2:30am this morning, as of 8:30am trains still delayed or cancelled.

Update: 9am, the road alongside rhe depot has reopened but depot staff have been sent home, fire crews testing a package of chemicals found in the bag. Manchester crewe trains still being cancelled.

 

[Starmill]

Oh dear. Doesn't sound good. The BBC have an article up, could someone paste if they have time? I can't on my phone.
Manchester Piccadilly station delays due to suspect bag - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-34014954

 

[The Planner]

Students chemistry homework apparently.

 

[fishquinn]

A suspicious bag has caused major disruption to rail services in and out of Manchester Piccadilly station.
Greater Manchester Police were called to the Westcoast Train Care facility on Kirkmanshulme Lane, Longsight, just before 02:30 BST.
A cordon was put in place while the bag was examined.
Police at the scene later said there was "not believed to be any threat to the public" and the investigation was passed to British Transport Police.
However, delays of up to 30 minutes to and from the station were expected until 11:00.
Commuters are already facing road delays in the city while a hole which has closed part of the Mancunian Way is filled in.

It's lucky that it wasn't something dangerous.

 

[neilmc]

My wife was doing post-graduate research in Chemistry whilst living in Manchester which necessitated trips to Glasgow (where her tutor was based) to do some experiments. These involved highly corrosive and poisonous hydrofluoric acid, and on one occasion she was chatting to some chemistry staff about her work on the Glasgow train - they became extremely agitated in case she was transporting the stuff in her luggage. Fortunately she had used a specialist courier instead.

 

[WatcherZero]

Caught up in a second lot of problems, OHLE down at Edge Hill just as evening peak starting and only diesels running, was on a liverpool-blackpool train that of course wouldnt have been running in a couple of months time, much to dismay of a third of passengers as we were waiting at Huyton it was announced we were rerouted via Newton and so St Helens central passengers had to disembark into the torrential rain.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Students chemistry homework apparently.

Whatever was this doing in the location?

 

[The Planner]

Presumably they got off at Piccadilly and forgot it and the train went back ECS to Longsight.

 

[SeanG]

How did a student have homework in the summer?

 

[Bevan Price]

How did a student have homework in the summer?

Might be a research student doing a M.Sc. or Ph.D. - they generally work throughout the year with only brief holidays.