A widespread power failure has caused significant disruption and cancellations across a large section of the UK’s rail network.
Passengers in Greater Manchester, the Midlands, and the northwest of England are facing severe delays of up to an hour, alongside numerous cancellations.
National Rail has confirmed the chaos is due to an electricity supply failure at one of its communications centres, with services expected to be affected until the end of the day.
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.”
Services across its entire network will be cancelled and delayed, it added. Meanwhile train operator Northern advised customers not to travel.
The train line operators currently experiencing disruption include:
- Avanti West Coast
- East Midlands
- London Northwestern Railway
- Northern
- TransPennine Express
- Transport for Wales
Travellers are being urged to check the National Rail website for updates on their journeys, as no rail replacement transport has been arranged.
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.”
Due to an ongoing rail fault, train services across Greater Manchester and the North West are currently experiencing disruption.
— Bee Network (@BeeNetwork) August 6, 2026
Rail ticket acceptance is in place across all Metrolink lines and Bee Network bus services in Greater Manchester.
Please allow extra time for your… pic.twitter.com/VAQp4ghCH0
Manchester's Bee Network is accepting tickets from affected rail passengers.
It wrote on X: "Due to an ongoing rail fault, train services across Greater Manchester and the North West are currently experiencing disruption.
Rail ticket acceptance is in place across all Metrolink lines and Bee Network bus services in Greater Manchester.
Please allow extra time for your journey as rail services will be delayed or cancelled."
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