Rail passengers across north-west England are facing a second consecutive day of travel chaos after a power cut at a key signalling centre brought trains to a standstill. The failure, which struck just before 2pm on Thursday, halted services and triggered widespread cancellations and delays, affecting multiple operators including CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway. On Friday morning, Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), and Transport for Wales continued to report knock-on effects.
Power failure causes widespread disruption
National Rail confirmed that although trains are now able to operate, passengers should expect delays until at least noon on Friday. The problem stems from a power outage at the Manchester rail operating centre, one of a dozen such facilities introduced over the past 12 years to replace traditional signal boxes and manage the network remotely. The power cut caused signals to default to red across a wide area, leaving trains stranded and forcing a controlled shutdown and restart of operations.
The backup generators at the centre failed to activate automatically, exacerbating the situation. Engineers worked through the night to restore systems, with full signalling capability only returning late Thursday evening. Network Rail has launched an investigation into the incident.
Passengers advised to check before travelling
Northern Rail has advised passengers not to travel before 10am on Friday, while TPE has warned of delays and cancellations until midday. Network Rail's north-west route director, Chris Wright, apologised for the disruption and thanked passengers for their patience. He said: "Our engineers worked through the night to restore signalling systems and recover the railway, and I'm pleased that most services are now running this morning. Anyone planning to travel this morning should continue to check before they travel for the latest information."
The RMT union's general secretary, Eddie Dempsey, praised train crew for their handling of the situation but criticised the lack of a working backup supply. He said: "The impact of a 90-second power cut in an important operations centre in Manchester, covering a wide geographical area across the north-west, without a working backup supply has clearly been devastating. We will work with Network Rail to scrutinise how railway infrastructure coped and what actions need to be taken in the future."
Additional issues compound the chaos
Thursday's disruption was further aggravated by the discovery of a wartime bomb near the railway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent, which added to the strain on the network. Andy Bowes-Roden, deputy editor at Modern Railways magazine, told BBC Radio 5 Live that while there would be "quite a lot of disruption this morning easing throughout the day," full recovery might not occur until Saturday. He noted: "As rail passengers, we are lucky. We have protections and the railways are obliged to get us where they promise to get us. But there will be an awful lot of refunds."
The affected areas include Greater Manchester, parts of the Midlands, and the wider north-west, where thousands of passengers saw their journeys severely delayed or cancelled. National Rail has advised travellers to check with their operator for the latest updates and to allow extra time for their journeys.
