CrossCountry expects return to ‘full service’ after power cut cancellations

Many CrossCountry train services were cancelled after a power cut (Danny Lawson/PA) PA Wire Clara Margotin 3 minutes ago CrossCountry said it will run a “full service” on Monday after a power cut resulted in major cancellations across its network.

The train operator said a “very limited” number of trains would run from around 6pm on Sunday, with a return to normal service expected on Monday.

A power outage in Birmingham , which started on Saturday, affected the company’s control centre, resulting in many of the systems used to manage the railway being unavailable, the operator said.

Many services were cancelled after a power cut (Ben Birchall/PA) PA Wire “Almost all” services were cancelled on Sunday – including popular routes linking Glasgow to Edinburgh , Manchester to Birmingham, Cheltenham to Cardiff and Newcastle to Edinburgh.

A near-normal service was running between Peterborough , Cambridge and Stansted Airport “due to the impact of planned engineering work”, the company said.

A rail replacement bus service remained in place as planned between Leicester and Peterborough.

A CrossCountry spokesperson said on Sunday evening: “Our key priority is now to restore as close to a normal service as possible for our customers tomorrow.

“With most facilities now reinstated, we are planning to operate a very limited number of services from around 6pm this evening, primarily on routes towards Leicester and Derby.

“Planning is underway to support a full train service on Monday and we are working closely with National Grid and industry partners as recovery efforts continue.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during today’s disruption.”

Replacement bus services were running where trains were cancelled (Ben Birchall/PA) PA Wire Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “Following earlier disruption on CrossCountry services, I am pleased to hear some trains are set to run tonight, and a full timetable expected to resume tomorrow.

“While passengers should continue to check their journeys before they travel, I’d like to thank engineers who are working tirelessly to minimise disruption as much as possible.

“We are setting up Great British Railways and nationalising services, including Cross Country next year, to end decades of fragmentation and vulnerability on our network. We are determined to give passengers the reliability they deserve.”

The biggest rail workers’ union called for a root and branch review of railway operational control centres following the outage.