National Rail said Northern Rail disruption across the Midlands and the North West of England followed a power failure at a communications centre on Thursday. Passengers on Avanti West Coast, East Midlands, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales faced cancellations, delays and rescheduling as the fault spread across several routes.
At around 14:18 BST, National Rail first posted on X that there was disruption in the Greater Manchester area, the Midlands and the North West of England until at least 16:00. That gave travellers a short-term end point, but the advice changed soon after as the network problem widened.
National Rail on X
National Rail then said the issue came from an electricity supply failure at a communications centre and that services were expected to be disrupted until the end of the day. A few minutes later, it added that rail replacement transport had not been arranged at that time. For passengers trying to make same-day plans, that meant the options were limited to waiting for later trains, changing travel times or arranging another way to complete the journey.
The operator also said trains across Greater Manchester, the Midlands and the North West of England could be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or rescheduled. The scope of the disruption pointed to a fault affecting network control rather than one line or one station, which is why several rail companies were hit at once.
Thursday and National Rail
National Rail later said services were expected to remain disrupted until the end of Thursday. That replaced the earlier 16:00 estimate and then the end-of-day warning, extending the disruption window for anyone travelling in the Midlands, the North West of England or north of England. The unanswered operational question is what caused the electricity supply failure at the communications centre.
