A power cut at the control centre of CrossCountry in Birmingham prompted the cancellation of nearly all rail services operated by the company throughout Great Britain on Sunday. Major routes affected included services between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham, Cheltenham and Cardiff, and Newcastle and Edinburgh.
The operator maintained limited exceptions to the widespread service disruptions. Trains running between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport were expected to continue operating with near-normal service levels, while a rail replacement bus service was provided on the Leicester to Peterborough corridor. CrossCountry anticipated a small number of trains would resume operations from approximately 6pm, with full service restoration anticipated by Monday.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged the impact of the outage on passengers and noted that publicly owned operators were being asked to provide supplementary services where feasible. Network Rail power teams were deployed to the affected control centre to work on restoring electricity and systems. CrossCountry extended ticket validity through August 26 for passengers affected by the cancellations, allowing them to travel on alternative operators serving the same routes.
Chiltern Railways and LNER both announced measures to assist disrupted passengers. Chiltern Railways added extra services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford and agreed to accept CrossCountry tickets via any reasonable route, while LNER similarly committed to accepting CrossCountry tickets to help customers reach their destinations.
The incident represents another disruption for the operator, which has faced scrutiny from Transport Focus. The passenger watchdog released findings earlier in the year indicating that CrossCountry customers reported lower satisfaction rates than the broader rail network, with particular concerns regarding how the operator communicated during service disruptions and managed train overcrowding.
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