Power Outage Halts Trains Across Midlands and North-West England
Major signalling failure at Manchester Rail Operating Centre causes widespread cancellations and delays, with disruption expected into Friday morning.
Callum Smith
A power outage brought trains to a standstill across the Midlands and north-west England on Friday morning.
Network Rail engineers worked through the night, addressing critical signalling issues. Chris Wright confirmed, "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."
Wright also stated, "I’m extremely sorry for the disruption today and the very difficult journeys many people have experienced. Our engineers are working tirelessly to restore the signalling systems impacted by the power cut at lunchtime."
I’m extremely sorry for the disruption today and the very difficult journeys many people have experienced.
Operators including Northern and TransPennine Express issued warnings of ongoing delays and cancellations for Friday morning. Many trains and their staff remained out of position following the incident.
Northern stated passengers should expect disruption into Friday morning. Services operated by Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express, and Transport for Wales all faced impacts.
The failure happened shortly before 2pm on Thursday, causing widespread cancellations and delays. Electricity failed in the Manchester Rail Operating Centre near Ashburys station.
SP Electricity North West reported an incident on their high voltage cable in Harpurhey, affecting approximately 5,000 customers in the Manchester area. Power was fully restored within 90 seconds by SP Electricity North West.
The affected facility in Manchester was one of 12 operating centres designed to manage the entire British rail network. Most train services across the North West are running on Friday.
Separately, the discovery of an unexploded wartime bomb near the railway line between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent caused additional, severe disruption. Ticket restrictions were eased for affected passengers.
Train tickets gained acceptance on Bee Network buses and Metrolink trams throughout Greater Manchester. Normal service resumed between Preston and Lancaster shortly after midnight.
Network Rail, however, stated cancellations would persist for the remainder of the night. Further disruption is likely for Friday, with National Rail reporting major disruption will continue until the end of the day.
Chris Wright thanked passengers for their patience. He added, "While some passengers may still experience disruption, we’re continuing to work closely with train operators to return services to normal as quickly as possible."