Birmingham New Street station rail chaos: Vandals cause third day of cancellations and delays

A power failure at Birmingham's New Street station which is believed to have been caused by vandalism, led to severe delays and cancellations on trains across the region today.

The power failure happened at around 4.00am and affected signalling equipment, meaning services could not enter or exit the south end of the station.

While signals have now been restored and repair work carried out, some delays remain.

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Cables that power signals at Proof House junction, just south of the station showed apparent attempts to cut and burn them.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Early indications are that foul play caused today's signalling failure. As well as putting their lives at risk, railway trespassers and vandals can face fines and prison sentences.

"Thousands of people were delayed getting to work today. The cost to the industry will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. This is taxpayers' money which could have been invested in improving the railway."

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Virgin Trains and Arriva Trains Wales are now operating a normal service.

Delays were expected to last until 4pm.

On Tuesday commuters were hit with delays after the line between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International stations was closed at 6.30am due to overhead wire damage. A normal service did not resume until 6.30pm.

While on Friday, signalling problems at Birmingham New Street led to delays of up to two hours.

Passengers affected by delays of more than 30 minutes can claim ticket costs back through delay repay compensation. Information on this is available on their rail service provider's website.