Travel chaos across UK as CrossCountry cancels almost all trains after power cut
CrossCountry, one of Britain's major long-distance rail operators, has cancelled almost all its services after a power cut struck its Birmingham headquarters, knocking out the systems its control centre relies on to manage the network. The disruption is nationwide, hitting key routes including Manchester to Birmingham, Edinburgh to Glasgow, Newcastle to York and Bristol to Cardiff, and the company has warned trains will remain suspended "until further notice", urging passengers to plan ahead or avoid travelling if possible.
Only one route, between Peterborough and Stansted Airport via March, Ely and Cambridge, is running close to normal. Affected passengers can claim full refunds if they choose not to travel, and tickets are being accepted on other operators' reasonable routes, with CrossCountry tickets bought today valid until Wednesday 26 August; those delayed by more than 30 minutes can also claim Delay Repay compensation. It is the second such incident in weeks, following a power cut on 6 August that disabled Network Rail's Manchester control centre and disrupted services across the north-west after a transformer fault affected 5,000 homes and businesses.
- Power cut at CrossCountry's Birmingham HQ has knocked out its control centre
- Nearly all routes cancelled nationwide; only Peterborough-Stansted line largely unaffected
- Refunds, ticket acceptance on other operators, and Delay Repay compensation available
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CrossCountry is one of the UK's main long-distance train operators, running services that link regions across the country rather than a single city commuter route, such as Manchester to Birmingham and Edinburgh to Glasgow. Its network is coordinated from a control centre in Birmingham, which manages train movements and staffing across the whole system. When that control centre loses power or its systems fail, the company can lose the ability to safely run trains anywhere, which is why a localised power cut can ground services nationwide.
This matters because it comes only weeks after a separate power failure disabled Network Rail's control centre in Manchester, disrupting services across the north-west. Repeated incidents raise questions about how resilient the systems behind Britain's rail network are, given how much passengers rely on them for long-distance travel, and how one localised fault can cascade into widespread disruption.