CrossCountry railway update

Bosses at train company CrossCountry said there will be a full train service on Monday (August 24) after a power cut at Birmingham New Street hit its control centre resulting in major disruption.

The problem saw the operator cancel services “across almost all routes” on Sunday after the outage resulted in many of the systems used to manage the railway being unavailable. It serves Wolverhampton via Manchester Piccadilly, Coventry, Reading and the south coast.

But on Sunday evening it said there were plans to run a very limited number of trains from around 6pm today and a full service tomorrow.

CrossCountry stated: "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.

•Get the best local stories, straight to your inbox - subscribe to the E&S newsletter

"We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during today's disruption."

Passengers are strongly advised to check their journey before travelling. Tickets are being accepted by other train operators on the CrossCountry network.

Anyone delayed by 30 minutes or more may be entitled to Delay Repay compensation, while those who choose not to travel can claim a refund from their original point of purchase.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “I am concerned to hear about a power outage affecting CrossCountry rail services today, which I know will be very frustrating to passengers.

“The service between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted is still running.

“I’ve asked publicly owned operators to lay on extra services where possible. We’ve also sent Network Rail power teams who are onsite and working to restore power and systems as soon as possible.”