Passengers are suffering major disruption after a freight train derailed on a major route between England and Scotland.

Services are being cancelled and delayed because of the incident on the West Coast Main Line between Carlisle and Oxenholme Lake District on Wednesday afternoon, National Rail Enquiries said.

Some lines are blocked and a very limited train service is running on the line that remains open.

In a message posted on Wednesday night on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, one passenger wrote that they had been “stranded for over 6 hours”.

Another passenger wrote on Thursday: “I’m sat on a static train outside Penrith station.

“We’ve been told that it would ‘probably be significantly more than an hour’ to get through the block.

“No replacement buses. People with cases for flights… no route to the Midlands. No replacement buses. Chaos.”

In a subsequent message, he wrote that he had been “dumped in Penrith” and his journey was “3 hours late”.

Train operators Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express issued a “do not travel” alert, urging passengers not to attempt to use their services for journeys between Preston and Scotland on Thursday.

Ticket holders can delay journeys until Friday or travel with other operators.

Network Rail’s acting North West route strategy director Kara Wood said: “We’re sorry to passengers affected by the derailment.

“We have specialist repair teams on site working as fast as they can to make the railway safe.

“Disruption is expected for the rest of the day, so we’re urging people to plan their journeys and check before they travel with their train operator or National Rail Enquiries.”