CrossCountry rail disruptions follow Birmingham control centre power cut

Rail passengers across the United Kingdom faced significant travel disruptions on Sunday, August 23, 2026, after a power cut knocked out critical systems at CrossCountry's control centre in Birmingham. The outage, which began on Saturday, August 22, forced the operator to cancel or severely reduce almost all its long-distance services for the day.

A CrossCountry spokesperson confirmed that the power failure affected the building housing their control centre in Birmingham city centre. As a result, many of the systems used by control teams to manage train operations remained unavailable. Despite efforts to use alternative processes, the company warned that services would be significantly disrupted throughout the day, with widespread cancellations expected across nearly its entire network. Only services operating between Peterborough, Cambridge, and Stansted Airport were expected to run a near-normal schedule.

The disruption impacted major routes across England, Scotland, and Wales. Services through key hubs like Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, and stations in the West Midlands were heavily affected. National Rail listed numerous cancellations, including multiple CrossCountry...