It comes after ‘almost all’ services were cancelled on Sunday including popular routes linking Glasgow and Edinburgh to various cities across England.
CrossCountry said it will run a “full service” on Monday after a power cut resulted in major cancellations across its network. The train operator said a “very limited” number of trains would run from around 6pm on Sunday, with a return to normal service expected on Monday.
A power outage in Birmingham, which started on Saturday, affected the company’s control centre, resulting in many of the systems used to manage the railway being unavailable, the operator said. “Almost all” services were cancelled on Sunday – including popular routes linking Glasgow to Edinburgh, Manchester to Birmingham, Cheltenham to Cardiff and Newcastle to Edinburgh.
A near-normal service was running between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport “due to the impact of planned engineering work”, the company said. A rail replacement bus service remained in place as planned between Leicester and Peterborough.
A CrossCountry spokesperson said on Sunday evening: “Our key priority is now to restore as close to a normal service as possible for our customers tomorrow. With most facilities now reinstated, we are planning to operate a very limited number of services from around 6pm this evening, primarily on routes towards Leicester and Derby.
“Planning is underway to support a full train service on Monday and we are working closely with National Grid and industry partners as recovery efforts continue. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during today’s disruption.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander previously said she was “concerned” about the power outage affecting CrossCountry services, adding she knew it would be “very frustrating to passengers”. Customers complained about Sunday’s disruption on social media, with some describing the cancellations as “very frustrating”.
CrossCountry responded to many posts from ticket-holders on X, apologising and advising of alternative routes. Tickets bought for travel on CrossCountry services on Sunday can still be used with other train operators on the same route.
The tickets will also remain valid on CrossCountry services until Wednesday. Chiltern Railways said it had added services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford to help with the disruption, adding it would accept “all CrossCountry tickets via any reasonable route”.
London North Eastern Railway also confirmed it would accept CrossCountry tickets “to help get affected customers to their destination”. Customers can apply for Delay Repay compensation if their train is delayed by 30 minutes or more, while those who choose not to travel can claim a refund.
People planning to travel on Sunday evening and Monday are advised to check their journey before leaving. Another power outage earlier in August had caused delays and cancellations on CrossCountry services across the Midlands and the North West.
Electricity had cut out in the main control hub for north-west England’s railways – the Manchester Rail Operating Centre – also affecting Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales services. Earlier this year, CrossCountry was told to raise its performance after receiving the worst score in a survey of more than 100,000 passengers.
Watchdog Transport Focus said in June that 79% of passengers were satisfied with the Arriva Group-owned operator. Hull Trains achieved the best overall satisfaction score at 94%, followed by LNER (93%).
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