Power cut leaves north-west England rail services in second day of delays
Rail passengers across north-west England are facing another rough morning after a power cut knocked out a regional signalling centre on Thursday and left tr...
Rail passengers across north-west England are facing another rough morning after a power cut knocked out a regional signalling centre on Thursday and left trains out of position overnight. The disruption, which began shortly before 2pm, is still rippling through services on Friday.
The outage forced temporary stoppages and triggered widespread cancellations and delays across the region, hitting operators including CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway. By Friday morning, the effect had spread to Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.
Delays likely through the morning
National Rail said trains were now able to run, but warned passengers to expect disruption until noon as rolling stock and crews were not where they needed to be for the start of service. Some trains across Greater Manchester and the wider north-west could still be cancelled outright or only run part of their normal route until the network steadies.
Northern Rail told passengers not to travel before 10am on Friday. TransPennine Express also warned its customers, as the knock-on effect from the signalling failure continued to spread through the timetable. The problem began with a power failure at the centre that controls rail movements across the region, and recovery has been slow.
Knock-on effects for a busy corridor
The disruption matters because this part of England sits on a dense rail corridor linking major cities and commuter routes. When signalling falters, trains do not just stop; crews, equipment and services drift out of sync. Getting everything back into place takes time. Sometimes hours.
That is why Friday’s service is still being shaped by Thursday afternoon’s shutdown. National Rail said the network should continue to improve as the morning goes on, but for now passengers in north-west England are still dealing with cancellations, revised journeys and delays across several operators.
