Rail chaos continues for second day across north-west England

A power failure struck the signalling centre controlling rail traffic across north-west England shortly before 2pm on Thursday, triggering widespread cancellations and delays for operators including CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway.

By Friday morning, disruption was still affecting Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE) and Transport for Wales. National Rail said that while trains were now able to run, delays could persist until noon because a number of trains and crews were not in the right locations to start the day's services.

Hardest-hit areas

Greater Manchester, the Midlands and north-west England bore the brunt of the disruption, leaving thousands of passengers unable to complete their journeys. Northern Rail advised passengers not to travel before 10am, while TPE warned customers to expect delays and cancellations before midday.

The affected facility, a signalling centre in Manchester, was opened by Network Rail in 2014 as one of 12 operating centres eventually intended to manage the entire British rail network.

Thursday's disruption was compounded by a separate incident: the discovery of a wartime bomb near the railway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent.

Company response

Chris Wright, Network Rail's north-west route director, thanked passengers for their patience and said engineers had worked through the night to restore the signalling systems. He noted that most services had resumed by Friday morning, though some passengers could still face disruption.

Andy Bowes-Roden, deputy editor of Modern Railways magazine, told BBC Radio 5 Live that disruption would ease gradually through the day, though the situation likely would not be fully resolved until Saturday morning. He also noted that UK rail passengers benefit from compensation protections, meaning a large number of refunds are expected.