Train operator CrossCountry has said it expects to run a full service on Monday after a power outage at its control centre forced it to cancel nearly all of its UK services the previous day. The failure, which occurred in Birmingham over the weekend, caused widespread disruption on routes stretching from Glasgow to Penzance.
Key corridors affected included services between Birmingham and Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Wolverhampton, as well as journeys linking Leeds and York and Cheltenham and Cardiff. Although most trains were back up on Monday morning, a handful of cancellations remained, which the company attributed to late-running departures and staff shortages. CrossCountry advised passengers to check their travel plans before setting out.
The operator thanked customers for their patience during the disruption and said that tickets bought for Sunday travel would remain valid on its services until Wednesday. Passengers caught up in the chaos described difficult experiences. Andy Burton, from Worcester, had been returning from a family weekend in Cromford but got no further than Derby, where he was told his planned alternative route via Leicester had also been dropped. Forced to spend the night in a budget hotel, he said he realised he was stranded with no other train option back to Worcester.
Another traveller, 22-year-old Reese Proctor, called the cancellations “frustrating and unacceptable” as he tried to reach Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium for a 14:00 BST kick-off against Bournemouth. Instead of taking a train from Reading, he drove more than 100 miles to a friend’s house in Leicester and then continued to the stadium, adding an extra two hours to his journey and leaving him “fuming”.
Some services resumed on Sunday evening, including an hourly train between Birmingham New Street and Leicester and Derby. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was concerned about the situation and reiterated plans to bring services under public ownership, including CrossCountry next year, through the creation of Great British Railways, saying passengers deserved reliability.
The RMT union called for a review of railway operational control centres to ensure they are not vulnerable to power failures, with general secretary Eddie Dempsey saying passengers and rail staff should not have to endure another week of travel chaos due to unreliable backup systems. CrossCountry was named Britain’s worst rail operator in June, according to the most recent industry rankings.