Rail passengers across north-west England faced a second day of disruption after a power failure at Manchester’s rail operating centre halted services and caused widespread cancellations and delays. Although signalling was restored late on Thursday, the incident left trains and crews out of position, meaning several operators expected altered or cancelled services into Friday afternoon.

The failure occurred shortly before 2pm on Thursday and affected Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express, Transport for Wales, CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway. Backup generators did not start immediately, causing signals to turn red and stopping trains; Network Rail is investigating, while separate disruption was worsened by a wartime bomb discovery near Tamworth.