A major rail route will remain closed until at least 22:00 GMT after a suspected drink-driver’s car careered off the road and plummeted on to the tracks.

Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales services have all been hit as a result of the line being blocked between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly.

Network Rail said the crash, which happened in Salford in the early hours of Friday morning, caused “significant damage to the railway and overhead electric cables”.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the BMW driver had been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and taken to hospital with injuries understood to be “serious but not life-threatening”.