Power failure at Manchester signalling centre halts trains across north-west England, disruption expected into Friday
A power failure at the Manchester Rail Operating Centre on Thursday afternoon knocked out signalling across north-west England, halting trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria and forcing at least eight operators to cancel or delay services. Network Rail warned disruption would continue into Friday morning.
Power cut strikes signalling centre
A power cut just before 2pm on Thursday, 6 August 2026 hit the Greater Manchester area where the Manchester Rail Operating Centre is located. The facility, opened in July 2014, houses all controls to safely operate the railway in the region, including signalling, with an operational boundary spanning from Crewe in the south to Carlisle in the north, and from Todmorden in the east to the Welsh border in the west. An emergency generator did not start in time to maintain signalling operations. Although power was later restored, safety protocols required a controlled restart of the systems at the centre before trains could resume.
Network Rail said no trains were able to run between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria and Bolton, impacting services across the North West network. Some trains were running south and east of the city towards Stockport but were also subject to delays. The operator gave no indication of what had caused the failure.
Operators and passengers affected
At least eight train operators were affected by Thursday evening: Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Lumo, Northern, TransPennine Express, and Transport for Wales. Northern and TransPennine Express advised customers not to travel, with TPE saying its trains were "unable to run safely" because of a failure in the communications systems.
- Power cut hits Greater Manchester area; Manchester Rail Operating Centre signalling fails; emergency generator does not start in time
- National Rail warns of major disruption; Northern and TransPennine Express advise passengers not to travel
- Network Rail confirms no trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria/Bolton; seven operators affected
- At least eight operators still affected; Midlands services normalised but Greater Manchester, North East and Wales remain disrupted
- Network Rail and TPE warn further disruption expected on Friday morning
Hundreds of travellers were left stranded. Sarah Nelson, unable to get to work in Manchester, faced a "nightmare" five-hour round trip to return home to Blackpool, with her train stuck at Horwich Parkway for more than 90 minutes. Stacey, a 38-year-old travelling from Deansgate to Leyland, paid £60 for a taxi home after being evacuated from a train that stopped on a viaduct when signals failed. A couple returning from Gibraltar had to book an Uber from Manchester Airport to Clitheroe, saying it was "costing a fortune".
- Avanti West Coast
- 1
- CrossCountry
- 1
- East Midlands Railway
- 1
- London Northwestern Railway
- 1
- Lumo
- 1
- Northern
- 1
- TransPennine Express
- 1
- Transport for Wales
- 1
Official responses and investigation
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander posted on X that she was "sorry to hear passengers in the North West are affected by a power outage, with trains cancelled or delayed". Chris Wright, Network Rail's North West route director, apologised and warned of further disruption.
I'm extremely sorry for the disruption and the very difficult journeys many people have experienced. We're warning people to expect further disruption tomorrow morning.
Andrew McClements, customer experience and transformation director at TPE, said the operator expected some disruption to services on Friday morning as a knock-on of Thursday afternoon's issues and asked anyone planning to travel to check carefully and allow extra time. SP Electricity North West, which owns and runs Greater Manchester's electricity distribution networks, said it was investigating whether an outage on its network had affected the area earlier on Thursday.
Ongoing disruption and mitigation
By Thursday evening, services in the Midlands had been normalised, but Greater Manchester, the North East and parts of Wales remained disrupted. National Rail said trains in Greater Manchester and the North East could face delays of up to an hour or cancellation. Circulation between Newport and Cardiff Central could face disruption until 20h on Friday, according to Sky News. Passengers travelling within Greater Manchester were told they could use any Bee Network bus or Metrolink service at no extra cost. Network Rail urged anyone planning to travel on Friday to check National Rail Enquiries before setting off, with further cancellations expected.
The Manchester facility is one of 12 operating centres built to eventually manage the entire British rail network, replacing 800 signal boxes and other operational locations. It was planned that the Manchester Rail Operating Centre would control all of the railway in north-west England by 2034. An electrical fault at Manchester Piccadilly also halted trains in April, when Network Rail said an extended 12-hour closure was needed for repairs because of over 400 metres of damaged lines.
