CrossCountry cancels almost all rail services after power cut hits control centre

Transport secretary asks ‘publicly owned operators to lay on extra services where possible’

CrossCountry cancelled almost all of its train services in Great Britain on Sunday after a power cut in Birmingham hit its control centre.

Most services were cancelled until further notice, including routes from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Manchester to Birmingham, Cheltenham to Cardiff and Newcastle to Edinburgh.

The train operator said it expected a “near normal service” between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport, while a planned rail replacement bus service was running between Leicester and Peterborough.

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

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, told the Press Association: “I am concerned to hear about a power outage affecting CrossCountry rail services today, which I know will be very frustrating to passengers.

“The service between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted is still running.

“I’ve asked publicly owned operators to lay on extra services where possible. We’ve also sent Network Rail power teams who are on site and working to restore power and systems as soon as possible.”

CrossCountry told customers that tickets for its services on Sunday could be used with other train operators on the same route, and that they would remain valid on CrossCountry services until Wednesday 26 August.

Chiltern Railways said it had added services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford, and that it would accept all CrossCountry tickets “via any reasonable route”. LNER also said it would accept CrossCountry tickets “to help get affected customers to their destination”.

Customers are entitled to delay repay compensation if their train is delayed by 30 minutes or more. Those who choose not to travel can claim a refund.

It is the latest in a series of delays and cancellations on CrossCountry services, with the passenger watchdog warning the train operator this year that it needed to improve its performance.

In June, Transport Focus urged CrossCountry to improve its passenger information during disruption and tackle overcrowding on its trains. Its survey found that while overall 87% of rail customers were satisfied with their experience on a train, that fell to 79% for CrossCountry customers, who were most dissatisfied with how the train operator had dealt with delays.

A spokesperson for CrossCountry said: “While we will run as many trains as possible, passengers should expect significant reductions to services and cancellations across almost all CrossCountry routes throughout the day.

“We are sorry to passengers affected by this significant and unforeseen disruption. We are working closely with relevant partners and will provide further updates as soon as possible.”