A major power failure at CrossCountry's control centre in Birmingham on Saturday has forced the rail operator to cancel almost all of its services across the United Kingdom, causing widespread travel chaos during the weekend.
The power outage disabled many of the critical systems used to manage the railway network, making them completely unavailable. CrossCountry, which was ranked as Britain's worst rail operator in June, announced that cancellations are affecting most of its routes until further notice due to "significant and unforeseen disruption."
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander expressed her concern over the incident. "We've also sent Network Rail power teams who are onsite and working to restore power and systems as soon as possible," she said, adding that she had asked publicly owned operators to provide "extra services where possible."
The widespread cancellations are impacting key routes from Glasgow to Penzance and Leeds to Manchester. Major routes between Manchester and Birmingham—which run through Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, and Wolverhampton—are affected, alongside services from Leeds to York, Cheltenham to Cardiff, and Glasgow to Edinburgh. Services to Plymouth and Penzance are also heavily disrupted, leaving passengers dependent on Great Western Railway operators as a replacement.
While the operator usually calls at more than 100 stations, the only route expecting a "near-normal" service is the line running between Peterborough, Cambridge, and Stansted Airport.
To help ease the disruption, other rail companies are accepting CrossCountry tickets. Chiltern Railways added extra services between Birmingham Moor Street and Oxford, stating it would accept "all CrossCountry tickets via any reasonable route." London North Eastern Railway also confirmed it would accept the tickets to help passengers reach their destinations. National Rail announced that affected customers could use London Underground services and West Midlands Metro services between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street at no extra cost.
Tickets purchased for travel on CrossCountry services on Sunday will remain valid for travel until Wednesday. Passengers whose journeys are delayed by 30 minutes or more are entitled to Delay Repay compensation, while those who choose not to travel can claim a full refund.
Angry passengers took to social media to vent their frustration, describing the situation as a "worst case scenario" for weekend travel. Many travelers had to resort to taking coaches or alternative operators to complete their journeys.
Football fans travelling to weekend fixtures were warned by National Rail that services to and from Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle might be "extremely busy," advising them: "You may need to stand for part or all of your journey. If you require any assistance, please speak with a member of staff."
One fan, 22-year-old Reese Proctor, described the cancellations as "frustrating and unacceptable" as he tried to travel from Reading to Manchester's Etihad Stadium for a 14:00 BST match against Bournemouth. Proctor was forced to drive more than 100 miles to a friend's house in Leicester before getting a lift to the stadium. The detour added two hours to his journey, leaving him "fuming." He noted, "If I couldn't drive, or have [my friend] to drive… I wouldn't have been able to go to the match. That would have been a waste of a match ticket."
Another passenger posted on X, sarcastically writing: "A massive thank you to Cross Country Trains for cancelling my train this morning to Birmingham. You are truly not fit for service. You have also cancelled my train coming back but that is immaterial. Useless. Utterly useless."
At Birmingham New Street station, platform barriers have been left open, and regular announcements are keeping passengers informed of the disruption. Digital schedule boards in the concourse are carrying a Special Notice warning passengers of the cancellations, alongside handwritten boards alerting travelers.
When asked by a user on X if the disruption would be resolved by Monday, CrossCountry responded: "We would hope so, but at the moment we have no further updates." A spokesperson for the operator apologized to affected passengers and stated, "We are working closely with relevant partners and will provide further updates as soon as possible."
