A major power outage and the discovery of an unexploded German bomb have plunged Brits into travel hell with no end in sight
Britain’s railway chaos is set to continue into Friday as a major power outage and the discovery of an unexploded WW2 bomb caused delays and cancellations across the country.
National Rail says disruptions across the North West and Greater Manchester after the outage sparked a signal failure across England.
The train companies affected include Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Lumo, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.
Services between Newport in south Wales and Cardiff Central will also be delayed until the end of Friday.
The electricity issue, which came to light shortly after 2pm on Thursday, was caused by an electrical failure at a communications centre.
Passengers have described being stranded for hours between stations, with one telling reporters that she was delayed by four hours after being stuck near Deansgate in Manchester.
Two-and-a-half hours after they were stopped, rail staff were allegedly forced to use a ladder to help passengers onto the tracks – forcing them to walk along the tracks to reach a car park.
The electrical failure came on the same day that bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion of a WW2 bomb at a quarry near a train track outside Birmingham.
The discovery heaped even more misery on Midlands passengers.
Engineers are making “good progress” fixing signalling issues but there will be cancellations for the rest of the night, Network Rail said.
Further disruption tomorrow is likely because many trains and their crew “are not where they would normally be after this unexpected incident”, it added.
Chris Wright, Network Rail’s North West route director, said: “I’m extremely sorry for the disruption today and the very difficult journeys many people have experienced.
“Our engineers are working tirelessly to restore the signalling systems impacted by the power cut at lunchtime.”
A National Rail spokesperson said: “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.”
Passengers and worried relatives contacted National Rail with their frustrations over how to complete their journeys.
One passenger, who described themselves as “stranded in Wigan,” said they needed a replacement bus service as they had to get home for childcare and asked: “Can I reimburse a taxi?”
Another traveller, who was stuck in Manchester, said it had been “chaos at Piccadilly”, while concern about his pregnant wife who was in Manchester prompted another man to ask how she would be able to get to Lytham St Annes amid the train cancellations.
Another man wrote that their partner, a “single female alone”, was “stuck in Liverpool”, after leaving Scunthorpe and asked, “Can you provide an update on how she should get home?”
By Chay Quinn
