CrossCountry rail operator suspended the majority of its services in Great Britain on Sunday after a power failure struck its control centre in Birmingham. The outage affected numerous major routes, including services between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham, Cheltenham and Cardiff, and Newcastle and Edinburgh. The operator stated that only a very limited number of trains would operate from approximately 6pm that evening, with anticipation of returning to normal operations the following day.
Certain services maintained partial operation during the disruption. CrossCountry indicated that routes connecting Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport would continue near-normal service levels. Additionally, a rail replacement bus service operated between Leicester and Peterborough to accommodate affected passengers.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander responded to the disruption, expressing concern about the impact on travellers. She confirmed that publicly owned operators were adding supplementary services where feasible and that Network Rail technical teams had been deployed to restore power and systems. Rival operators stepped in to assist stranded passengers, with Chiltern Railways adding services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford and both Chiltern Railways and LNER agreeing to honour CrossCountry tickets on alternative routes.
Tickets for Sunday services were permitted for use with competing operators on equivalent routes and remained valid on CrossCountry services through August 26. Passengers experienced delays exceeding 30 minutes are eligible for compensation claims, while those choosing not to travel can pursue refunds. This incident represents another disruption for CrossCountry, which has faced ongoing criticism regarding service reliability and passenger satisfaction levels compared to other operators.
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