Manchester Power Failure Disrupts Trains Across North West Into Friday
A brief external electricity-supply failure at the city’s rail control centre disabled signalling, causing hundreds of cancellations and delays for services across Greater Manchester, the North West and parts of the Midlands.
A power failure at Manchester’s main rail control centre has caused major disruption across the North West of England, with cancellations and severe delays expected to continue through Friday after a fault disabled crucial signalling systems.
The failure struck shortly before 14:00 on Thursday at the Manchester Rail Operating Centre in the Ardwick area of the city.
The centre controls train movements across a large section of the regional network.
When its electricity supply failed, the signalling system defaulted to a safe state, preventing trains from running normally until engineers could restore and restart it.
Power was restored quickly, but returning a complex signalling network to service required a controlled safety process.
That left trains stranded in the wrong locations, disrupted crews and rolling stock, and produced knock-on cancellations well beyond Greater Manchester.
No trains initially ran between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria or Bolton.
Services south and east of the city towards Stockport were able to resume in limited form, but were also affected by delay and cancellation.
The disruption reached operators including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Lumo, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.
Long-distance routes linking London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Preston, Carlisle and other destinations were affected.
Northern advised passengers not to travel until 10:00 on Friday, while several other operators urged customers to check before setting out.
TransPennine Express temporarily advised against travel across its network because the communications and signalling failure prevented services from operating safely.
Passengers holding rail tickets in Greater Manchester were permitted to use Bee Network buses and Metrolink trams.
Operators also relaxed some ticket restrictions, and passengers whose journeys were cancelled or seriously delayed may be entitled to refunds or compensation.
Network Rail said the incident was caused by an external electricity-supply failure and apologised for the disruption.
The Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said she was receiving regular updates while engineers worked to restore normal operation.
The incident exposed the vulnerability created when a failure at a centralised control site affects a much wider railway network.
Engineers are continuing to restore the affected signalling systems, while operators work to reposition trains and crews for the return to normal service.
The failure struck shortly before 14:00 on Thursday at the Manchester Rail Operating Centre in the Ardwick area of the city.
The centre controls train movements across a large section of the regional network.
When its electricity supply failed, the signalling system defaulted to a safe state, preventing trains from running normally until engineers could restore and restart it.
Power was restored quickly, but returning a complex signalling network to service required a controlled safety process.
That left trains stranded in the wrong locations, disrupted crews and rolling stock, and produced knock-on cancellations well beyond Greater Manchester.
No trains initially ran between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria or Bolton.
Services south and east of the city towards Stockport were able to resume in limited form, but were also affected by delay and cancellation.
The disruption reached operators including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Lumo, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.
Long-distance routes linking London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Preston, Carlisle and other destinations were affected.
Northern advised passengers not to travel until 10:00 on Friday, while several other operators urged customers to check before setting out.
TransPennine Express temporarily advised against travel across its network because the communications and signalling failure prevented services from operating safely.
Passengers holding rail tickets in Greater Manchester were permitted to use Bee Network buses and Metrolink trams.
Operators also relaxed some ticket restrictions, and passengers whose journeys were cancelled or seriously delayed may be entitled to refunds or compensation.
Network Rail said the incident was caused by an external electricity-supply failure and apologised for the disruption.
The Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said she was receiving regular updates while engineers worked to restore normal operation.
The incident exposed the vulnerability created when a failure at a centralised control site affects a much wider railway network.
Engineers are continuing to restore the affected signalling systems, while operators work to reposition trains and crews for the return to normal service.
