Rail passengers warned of more disruption after Greater Manchester power cut

Rail passengers across Greater Manchester are being warned of further cancellations and delays tonight and into Friday morning after a power cut caused widespread disruption earlier today.

The electricity supply outage affected the Manchester Rail Operating Centre at lunchtime on Thursday, causing signalling problems across the network.

Network Rail said the power cut affected the Manchester Rail Operating Centre, the North West's main hub for controlling train movements, at lunchtime today.

The outage caused widespread cancellations and delays to services across Greater Manchester throughout Thursday.

Engineers are working tonight to restore the affected signalling systems and Network Rail said good progress is being made.

However, cancellations are expected to continue for the rest of Thursday, with further disruption likely on Friday morning.

The problems have also left trains and crews away from where they would normally be, which could lead to further disruption even as the signalling issues are resolved.

Passengers planning to travel tonight or on Friday morning are being urged to check their journeys before setting off.

Ticket acceptance is in place across Transport for Greater Manchester Bee Network buses and Metrolink services to help passengers affected by the disruption.

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.

"With this work continuing this evening we're warning people to expect further disruption tomorrow morning. I'd urge people to ensure they check National Rail Enquiries before they set off on any planned journeys tomorrow, with further cancellations and delays likely."

TransPennine Express is relaxing ticket restrictions throughout Friday, meaning passengers with Advance Purchase tickets can travel at any time during the day.

Andrew McClements, customer experience and transformation director at TransPennine Express, said, "I'd like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding through what has been a difficult incident to manage. Sadly, we're not out of the woods yet and we expect some disruption to our services in the morning (Friday) as a knock-on of this afternoon's issues.

"We are asking anyone planning to travel with TPE on Friday to check carefully before they travel and to allow extra time for any journeys. To help customers we are relaxing ticket restrictions for the whole day, so anyone with an Advance Purchase ticket will be able to travel at any time during the day."

Northern has also warned passengers travelling through Manchester to check their journeys before setting off on Friday morning.

Warrick Dent, chief operating officer for Northern, said, "I'd like to apologise to all our customers affected by today's disruption in Manchester. We know how frustrating it is to have your journey delayed, cancelled, or disrupted, and I'm sorry for the impact this has had on people's day.

"Our teams have been working hard alongside Network Rail and other train operators to keep customers moving and informed throughout. The scale of today's disruption means customers travelling through Manchester tomorrow morning should also check before they travel, as some knock-on delays may continue."