Railway chaos as explosion risk closes line

Date published: 28/04/2008

Rail passengers suffered major disruption this morning as the result of two highly explosive acetylene canisters catching fire yesterday.

Train travel between Oldham and Rochdale ground to a halt due to safety fears following the incident in a Higginshaw builder’s yard.

Fire crews were called out at 9 o’clock last night to a yard owned by Taylor Orme Engineering, Meek Street, Oldham. The blaze involved two vehicles, a canoe and some building materials.

Firefighters were attempting to put out the blaze when they discovered the two canisters.

A 200-metre safety cordon, which was set up last night and included part of the train line, was reduced by half this morning.

No homes were in the vicinity but crews will remain at site until 9 tonight to cool down the canisters.

Specialist company BOC Gas will then assess the to see if the canisters can be safely removed.

A replacement bus service set up by Northern Rail ran between Oldham and Rochdale today (Monday 28 April).

Watch commander Rick Cummins said: “Potentially, it was a very dangerous situation as the cylinders are highly explosive. Although no lives were in direct danger, as it was quite a remote site with banking and lorries, the other side of the railway was obstruction-free.

“The containers were 25 metres from the track so a decision was taken to close the line.”
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “The emergency services advised us to close the line because of the nature of the fire, and because the railway was in the exclusion zone.”

He said the line would remain closed until emergency services advised them it was safe to reopen.