Rail disruption in north-west England enters second day after signalling power failure

Passengers across north-west England are facing a second day of rail disruption after a power failure hit the signalling centre that controls the region's network. The outage struck shortly before 2pm on Thursday and caused widespread cancellations and delays, including for CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway services.

Operators still affected on Friday morning included Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales. National Rail said trains are running again but delays could last until noon because several trains and crew are in the wrong locations for the start of service. Some services across Greater Manchester and north-west England may still be cancelled or shortened until the network fully recovers. Northern advised passengers not to travel before 10am, while TransPennine Express warned of delays and cancellations before midday.

The disruption hit Greater Manchester, the Midlands and north-west England hardest, leaving thousands of passengers unable to complete their journeys. National Rail also said a wartime bomb discovered near the railway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent deepened Thursday's disruption. The Manchester facility that lost power was one of 12 operating centres designed to eventually manage the entire British rail network, according to Network Rail. Network Rail's north-west route director thanked passengers for their patience and said engineers worked through the night to restore signalling systems, with most services now running. Andy Bowes-Roden, deputy editor at Modern Railways magazine, said disruption would ease through the day and hopefully be back to normal by rush hour, though he expected "an awful lot of refunds."