Major rail disruption as power fault sees trains cancelled across England

Major rail disruption has been reported across the Midlands and the north of England, which National Rail says is due to an electrical failure at a communications centre. Trains across Greater Manchester, the Midlands and the North West are set to be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or rescheduled, the group which representing passenger train operating companies said. Disruption is expected until the end of the day, and the five rail companies affected include Avanti West Coast, East Midlands, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales, it is understood. Shorts Northern and Transpennine Express has advised customers not to travel, while National Rail said the disruption could spread to connecting routes as hubs like Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly serve lines that connect to wider areas of the UK. A National Rail spokesperson said: “This is expected to cause major disruption until the end of the day. “If you’re travelling Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern, Northern, TransPennine Express, or Transport for Wales in the affected area your train may be cancelled, delayed, or revised. “Please allow extra time to make your journey this afternoon as you may need to use an alternative route or change trains part-way through to reach your destination.”TransPennine Express said: “All trains will be stopped due to a failure of the communication systems on the network. Trains are unable to run safely.” The railway explained services across its entire network will be cancelled and delayed, and no replacement buses are operating It also “strongly advised” its customers to cancel their journeys, saying: “Due to the power supply issue affecting the network. We are advising customer against travelling today.” Services in the Greater Manchester area, the Midlands and north-west England are being affected by the outage.National Rail first reported the disruption shortly after 2pm. One passenger, travelling from London Euston to Liverpool, told Sky News they were stuck at Acton Bridge for an hour and a half, and no food was available for customers. They also complained their was no announcements made over the speakers about the disruption. This breaking news story is being updated. EXPLORE MORE ON THE TOPICS IN THIS STORY