CrossCountry has cancelled almost all of its rail services across the United Kingdom following a significant power failure at its control centre in Birmingham. The outage, which began on Saturday, has rendered many of the systems essential for managing railway operations unavailable. The operator, which was ranked as Britain’s worst rail service provider in June, warned that the disruption is both significant and unforeseen, affecting routes ranging from Glasgow to Penzance and Leeds to Manchester until further notice.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander expressed concern regarding the outage and confirmed she has requested that publicly owned operators provide additional services wherever possible to mitigate the impact. She noted that Network Rail power teams are currently on-site working to restore the necessary systems as quickly as possible. Despite these efforts, the disruption has caused widespread frustration, with many passengers describing the situation as a worst-case scenario for weekend travel.
The impact is being felt across major transit hubs, including routes between Manchester and Birmingham—passing through Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, and Wolverhampton—as well as connections from Leeds to York, Cheltenham to Cardiff, and Glasgow to Edinburgh. At Birmingham New Street station, platform barriers have been left open, and digital display boards are broadcasting special notices regarding the cancellations. The only route currently expected to maintain a near-normal service is the line between Peterborough, Cambridge, and Stansted Airport.
Football fans travelling to fixtures, including those heading to Manchester’s Etihad Stadium for the match against Bournemouth, have been warned that remaining services may be extremely busy. Reese Proctor, a 22-year-old passenger, described the experience as frustrating and unacceptable after he was forced to drive over 100 miles to Leicester before continuing his journey to Manchester. He noted that without the ability to drive, he would have been unable to attend the match, resulting in a wasted ticket.
To assist stranded travellers, CrossCountry has confirmed that tickets originally valid for Sunday will be accepted for travel until Wednesday. Several other operators, including Chiltern Railways and London North Eastern Railway, have agreed to accept CrossCountry tickets on reasonable routes to help passengers reach their destinations. Additionally, National Rail has authorised the use of London Underground services and West Midlands Metro lines between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street at no extra cost.
The operator has apologised for the inconvenience and advised that customers are entitled to Delay Repay compensation if their journey is delayed by 30 minutes or more, while those who choose not to travel are eligible for a full refund. While the company is working closely with partners to resolve the situation, they have provided no specific timeline for when full service will resume. Passengers requiring assistance are encouraged to speak with station staff, and those travelling on limited available services have been warned that they may need to stand for part or all of their journey. The report also notes that one user on X asked the operator if the situation would be resolved on Monday. The report also notes that but at the moment we have no further updates, it responded: “We would hope so. The report also notes that reese Proctor described the cancellations as “frustrating and unacceptable” as he tried to get to Manchester’s Etihad Stadium in time for a 14:00 BST kick-off against Bournemouth. The report also notes that but instead resorted to driving more than 100 miles to his friend’s house in Leicester before driving on to the stadium, he had hoped to get a train from Reading to Manchester. The report also notes that leaving him “fuming”, the 22-year-old said Newsbeat the drive had added an extra two hours to his journey. The report also notes that posting on X, said: “A massive thank you to Cross Country Trains for cancelling my train this morning to Birmingham, another passenger.
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