Thousands of passengers can breathe a sigh of relief as it is revealed that Liverpool Lime Street station will reopen 24 hours earlier than expected.

A wall on the approach to the busy rail hub dramatically and suddenly collapsed on Tuesday (February 28), sending a staggering 200 tonnes of debris across all four lines.

But thanks to the mammoth efforts of engineers, services will be back on track at the city's main station ahead of schedule from Wednesday (March 8).

Martin Frobisher, managing director of Network Rail’s London North Western route, said: “I am thrilled to be able to get customers moving again in and out of Liverpool’s main station.

"Our orange army has worked tirelessly since the incident occurred. We’re really proud of them.

"We’re grateful for the teamwork and support of the train companies, and for the patience of both passengers and neighbouring residents and businesses."

200 tonnes of debris had to be cleared

Network Rail workers followed a three-step plan to reopen to railway.

They began by making the location safe by removing 4,000 tonnes of material from the top of the cutting.

The second step was clearing the debris from the tracks in the cutting more than 10 metres below.

And the third and final step was repairing damage to the railway, namely overhead wires, signalling equipment and the tracks themselves.

Final track repairs are taking place today (Tuesday, March 7).

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Britain's biggest rail union RMT has claimed that at least one train was only 'seconds away' from colliding with the massive pile of debris.

RMT says the near-miss serves to highlight the importance of a safety-trained guard on every train.

The union is currently fighting proposals for driver-only operated trains.

Trains operated by East Midlands, Virgin, Northern, London Midland and Trans-Pennine Express will be using the station from Wednesday. As always, train customers are urged to check before they travel on nationalrail.co.uk .