Rail passengers are facing a day of problems after a major train company cancelled all its trains to and from York.
A power cut in Birmingham has put much of CrossCountry’s control centre out of action and is preventing the company from operating its services including the Scotland to the South West and South England services.
Destination boards at York Railway Station are showing cancellations for all CrossCountry trains calling at the station.
The company is urging passengers to check before leaving for the station and use alternative routes where possible.
It is the second time this month a power cut has caused chaos on the railways. At the start of the month, an outage in Manchester brought trains to a halt in north England, the north-west and the Midlands.
The chaos then lasted two days as trains were in the wrong position when power was restored and had to be moved before they could resume their schedules.
A CrossCountry spokesperson said today: "A power cut in Birmingham city centre has affected the building where our control centre is located.
“As a result, many of the systems our control teams use to manage the railway are currently unavailable.
"Although colleagues are working hard to safely operate services using alternative processes, CrossCountry services will be significantly disrupted on Sunday 23 August.
"While we will run as many trains as possible, passengers should expect significant reductions to services and cancellations across almost all CrossCountry routes throughout the day.
"We are sorry to passengers affected by this significant and unforeseen disruption.
"Ticket acceptance is in place with other train operators, and customers will be entitled to Delay Repay compensation. Customers who choose not to travel can claim a refund from their original point of purchase.
"We are working closely with relevant partners and will provide further updates as soon as possible."
RECOMMENDED READING
- Electrical failure causes rail disruption in Midlands and north-west England
- Rail disruption expected into morning after power outage grinds trains to halt
- Transpennine Express delays services due to power failure
CrossCountry is a popular choice with holidaymakers from Yorkshire heading for Devon and Cornwall as it provides direct routes from York to Exeter and Plymouth among other south-west destinations. It also, through its Birmingham and Bristol stops, provides connections to Wales.
The company is concentrating its efforts on keeping its Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport open. That route is expected to see a near-normal service today.
LNER has also reported an unrelated cancellation this morning. Its 9.55 service to London Kings Cross isn’t running because of a fault on the train.
Its other services through are currently operating normally, as are those of all companies other than CrossCountry