A power outage affecting CrossCountry’s control centre in Birmingham resulted in the cancellation of most train services across Great Britain on Sunday. Major routes impacted included services between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham, Cheltenham and Cardiff, and Newcastle and Edinburgh. The train operator maintained that a near-normal service would continue on the Peterborough-Cambridge-Stansted Airport corridor, while a replacement bus service operated between Leicester and Peterborough.
CrossCountry anticipated a very limited number of trains would resume operation from approximately 6pm on Sunday, with expectations of returning to normal schedules by Monday. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander expressed concern about the outage and stated that publicly owned operators had been requested to provide additional services where feasible. Network Rail power teams were deployed to the site to work on restoring electricity and systems.
The train operator allowed passengers holding tickets for Sunday services to use them with alternative train operators on identical routes, with validity extended through 26 August for CrossCountry services. Chiltern Railways added supplementary services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford and agreed to accept CrossCountry tickets via any reasonable route. LNER similarly committed to accepting CrossCountry tickets to assist affected passengers in reaching their destinations. Customers whose trains were delayed by 30 minutes or longer remain eligible for delay repay compensation, while those choosing not to travel may request refunds.
This incident represents another service disruption for CrossCountry, following criticism from passenger watchdog Transport Focus earlier this year. A June survey indicated that while 87 percent of rail customers overall reported satisfaction with their experience, satisfaction among CrossCountry customers stood at 79 percent, with particular dissatisfaction regarding the operator’s handling of delays and management of overcrowding.
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