CrossCountry cancels nearly all trains after power cut, expects full service to resume
CrossCountry cancelled nearly all services after a power cut at its Birmingham control centre, with a full service expected to resume on Monday.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
CrossCountry has cancelled nearly all of its services across the UK after a power cut at its control centre in Birmingham. The outage knocked out the systems used to manage services, forcing the operator to withdraw trains on almost all of its routes. The disruption stretches from Scotland to the south-west, although services between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport are running close to normal.
Passengers were left stranded and frustrated. One traveller said they had gone to the station and been told there were no trains running to Cheltenham. Another couple, travelling with parents, said they had to change plans and were worried about overcrowding on alternative services.
CrossCountry, which serves more than 100 stations, apologised and said it was working to restore services as a priority, with a full service expected to resume on Monday morning. But the incident has raised questions about the resilience of the railway's backup systems. One expert said there were legitimate questions about why contingencies and backup generators did not work, and why control could not be transferred to another switching centre.
The disruption comes just months after CrossCountry was ranked Britain's worst train operator for passenger satisfaction.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 5 | BBC News | BBC One | Channel 4 | GB News | ITV | Sky News |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two people were seriously injured, and 18 others were less seriously injured. | · | ||||||
| A power failure at Network Rail's operations centre in Manchester at 2pm caused a signalling shutdown. | · | · | |||||
| Buckled rails were visible. | · | · | |||||
| The train derailed just before 4pm on 13 August 2026. | · | · | |||||
| Multiple carriages overturned, with reports of two or three. | · | · | · | ||||
| The train was the 224 London Victoria to Eastbourne service. | · | · | · | ||||
| Northern Rail issued a 'do not travel' advisory for the affected area. | · | · | · | · | |||
| Rail routes were closed and delays of up to 60 minutes were expected. | · | · | · | · | |||
| Reports said between 100 and 150 passengers were on board. | · | · | · | · | |||
| Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander expressed deep concern. | · | · | · | · | |||
| CrossCountry cancelled most of its services due to a power cut at its control centre, causing disruption across the UK, though some routes operated near normal. | · | · | · | · | · | ||
| CrossCountry was recently ranked as Britain's worst train operator for passenger satisfaction. | · | · | · | · | · |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 focused on the widespread impact of the power cut across multiple train operators, listing CrossCountry among the many affected. It highlighted the knock-on effect and the slow recovery, but also noted that some delays were easing.
- “When the power went off at a regional operating centre, all the train signals switched to red, stranding and delaying trains run by, and it's a long list, Avanti West Coast, Northern, East Midlands Railway, Trans Pennine Express, Cross Country, London North Western, Transport for Wales and Lumo.”
- “Network Rail rebooted the system, but there has been a nightmare knock-on effect.”
ITV1 emphasised the chaos and passenger impact, reporting from Manchester Piccadilly and noting that disruption could continue into the next morning. It listed CrossCountry among the affected operators and highlighted the broader network failure.
- “A freak power failure hit an operations centre in East Manchester, affecting at its peak a host of train companies, including Northern Rail, Cross Country, Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.”
BBC ONE West gave a dedicated report on the CrossCountry disruption, including passenger interviews and expert criticism of the backup systems. It highlighted the operator's poor satisfaction record and the questions about why contingency plans failed.
- “Rail passengers are facing major disruption this evening after CrossCountry trains cancelled nearly all of its services across the UK.”
- “There are legitimate questions to be asked about why contingencies and plan Bs and backup generators didn't work on this occasion.”
5 News gave a brief summary of the cancellations, focusing on the scale of the disruption and the operator's poor satisfaction record. It did not include passenger interviews or detailed analysis.
- “Trains across the UK have been cancelled after a power cut at Cross Country's Control Centre in Birmingham.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.