Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Rail services are largely running again after a power cut yesterday caused major disruption in north-west England, but passengers are still being advised to check before they travel.

A 90-second power cut took place at 13:40 on Thursday, affecting a rail operations centre in Manchester. The back-up supply didn't kick in as quickly as expected, creating signalling issues and leading to widespread disruption.

Although the signalling systems were fully restored late yesterday evening, trains and crews ended up in the wrong places - and the knock-on effect was felt this morning.

Things weren't nearly as bad as yesterday, though, with our reporters in multiple locations experiencing minimal - or no - disruption.

Attention will now shift to what went wrong, with Network Rail promising a "really thorough investigation", saying: "We must do better."

Remember, if your journey was affected, you can find out whether you're entitled to compensation.

• We're ending our live coverage for now, but you can read more in our news article

Jacob Phillips
Live reporter

A rail expert has described how it’s unusual for a "relatively small event" to have caused this much disruption in the north-west of England.

As we’ve been reporting, a 90-second power cut yesterday in Manchester affected the main control hub for north-west England’s railways.

Mark Simmons, the deputy editor of the International Railway Journal, tells me that operating centres are built to be resilient, and devices called uninterruptible power supplies should kick in as a back-up and provide power in these situations.

"Why that didn't happen in this case is definitely going to form the basis of an investigation," he says.

Simmons says the control centres are like a "giant signal box", where people control the trains and make sure everything is in the right place.

Any disruption to them can have a major impact, he adds.

Simmons points to a similar situation in Germany in June, when trains were left at a complete standstill for several hours after the country’s radio network malfunctioned.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Grumbling about train services is almost as common in the UK as complaining about the weather. But are things as bad as people say?

I asked rail expert Dickon Ross, editor of Rail magazine, how things here compare with elsewhere.

He says we can sometimes look at Europe with "rose-tinted spectacles".

The image that things are better on the continent is "sometimes correct, but not always", he says.

For example, while Switzerland is often seen as the gold standard, Ross points to problems on some services in neighbouring Germany. He says those who use them might be "quite pleased" to come back to the UK.

Josh Parry
Reporting from Liverpool Lime Street

Passengers at Liverpool Lime Street are now looking up at a departures board with very few delays.

Network Rail says the disruption has now largely settled but is still warning passengers to check before travel. Its website now says the disruption is expected to last until 13:00.

Everyone I've spoken to is in good spirits and glad to have avoided the delays yesterday.

It's the summer holidays so lots of families are travelling with suitcases to Manchester Airport and say they've had an anxious morning waiting to see whether they'd be impacted by yesterday's disruption.

Network Rail's North West route director, Chris Wright, has apologised to all passengers disrupted by the power cut.

He says engineers have been working hard overnight to build "additional resilience" into Network Rail's signalling systems and ensure this doesn't happen again.

"Of course we will be conducting a really thorough investigation to understand what went wrong and how we learn from this in the future," he says.

"We need to learn from this. We must do better."

A rail engineer and podcaster has called on the government to fund the railways adequately, warning that Network Rail - the body that owns most of the UK's rail infrastructure - is being told to "run a minimum viable product".

Gareth Dennis tells BBC Radio 5 Live that Network Rail's funding "was so much lower than it needed to be for the railways to stay afloat".

He says that at the start of the year, there were "massive redundancies" at Network Rail, so having staff members who know they need to be checking back-up supplies becomes "the sort of thing that falls through the cracks".

"The government is really responsible for this and needs to be funding the railways adequately - they currently see the railways as an asset that costs them money, but they should be seeing it as an engine for growth and investing accordingly," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

The government’s Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes quarterly statistics for trains operating on the mainline network.

These give a snapshot of how punctual rail services have been in recent months.

Its latest report, covering 1 January to 31 March, shows that 3.2% of services were cancelled during the period. That equated to 40,800 full cancellations and 39,300 part cancellations.

There were six "severely disrupted days" during the quarter, defined as days when at least 5% of services were cancelled.

Meanwhile, 86.4% of stops at stations took place either early or less than three minutes after the scheduled time.

A separate ORR report also shows train operators closed 1.9 million delay compensation claims over roughly the same period - 4 January to 31 March 2026.

Network Rail has just published an update.

It says rail services are "largely restored across North West" following the Manchester power cut, although some TransPennine Express services continue to be disrupted as trains and crews return to their normal positions.

Chris Wright, Network Rail's North West route director, says: "While some passengers may still experience disruption, we're continuing to work closely with train operators to return services to normal as quickly as possible."

He adds that anyone travelling on Friday morning should continue to check the latest information, external before travelling.

Josh Parry
Reporting from Liverpool Lime Street

A much calmer scene here on the concourse at Liverpool Lime Street today.

The departures board is looking much healthier than it did yesterday, too.

Now that staff know more about what’s happened, special announcements are being made and, for some journeys, the boards are displaying information about alternative routes.

Passengers are clearly frustrated by the disruption, but everyone I’ve spoken to has praised station staff for dealing with huge numbers of passengers in difficult circumstances.

A transport union says it will "work with Network Rail to scrutinise how the railway infrastructure coped and what actions need to be taken in the future".

The RMT, which represents thousands of rail workers, including train guards, also praised its members, saying their "quick-thinking actions" in "difficult circumstances, including a heatwave showed what an important role they play".

"Incidents do happen," says Alex Campbell, director of policy at the watchdog Transport Focus, when asked whether the disruption caused by yesterday's power failure raises concerns about infrastructure.

He tells BBC Breakfast it's unclear at the moment whether it was a "one in a thousand-year event, or a one in five-year event which really should have been prevented".

"When these things happen, it causes major disruption to people's lives," he says, adding that it's important the industry puts passengers at the "heart of their thinking".

That means balancing the needs of those disrupted in the moment with getting trains moving again as quickly as possible - something which can involve "competing tensions", Campbell says.

He urges those eligible to "go and seek" compensation. Here's more about how that works.

Michelle Adamson
BBC Radio Manchester reporter

Image source, Michelle Adamson

Two fans of virtuoso Japanese guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka are keeping their fingers crossed they can get to London in time for the 73-year-old’s gig late this afternoon.

Callum Kirk and his cousin Ben Esson are desperate to see the former Sadistic Mika Band lead guitarist.

"I’ve done nothing but check - I was up at five just to double check," says Callum.

He adds: "Hopefully, fingers crossed, we should be going to London. We’re not going direct, we are changing at Crewe.

"The concert is at four so we are hoping everything will be OK.

"He is in his 70s so it is probably our last chance to see him. As soon as we found out he was playing London we booked."

Yesterday's 90-second power cut in Manchester took place at 13:40 and affected more than 400 Manchester postcodes, including the main control hub for north-west England's railways.

Electricity distribution company SP Electricity North West said there was an "incident" involving a high-voltage cable in Harpurhey, north-east of Manchester city centre.

The failure affected "around 5,000 customers in the Manchester area", with all power "fully restored within 90 seconds", a spokesperson said.

Following the power cut, some of the systems controlling the signalling were damaged, so parts had to be replaced. That's why it's taken so long to fix the problem, according to our transport correspondent.

Image source, EPA

Katy Austin
Transport correspondent

As we've been reporting, the problem was caused by a 90-second power cut in Manchester, and backup supply at Network Rail’s operations centre didn’t kick in as quickly as expected.

There was damage to some of the systems that control the signalling, so parts had to be replaced. That's why it's taken so long to fix the problem.

Network Rail says its engineers worked through the night to restore the signalling systems, which were fully restored late yesterday evening.

Network Rail has launched an investigation into what went wrong.

The impact of the disruption is still continuing today because trains and crews have been displaced.

Passengers across north-west England and Greater Manchester are still facing disruption following an electrical failure at a control centre on Thursday.

Here's the latest from the rail operators affected.

• Northern customers are still being advised not to travel before 10:00 if possible - yesterday's tickets are being accepted at no extra cost
• Avanti West Coast says there are still some short-notice cancellations on its network and has told customers to check their journeys before travelling
• East Midlands Railway's tickets dated yesterday that weren't used are valid for today
• TransPennine Express is running a reduced service and some ticket restrictions have been relaxed
• Transport for Wales is allowing customers to use yesterday's tickets at no extra cost

Make sure you check your journey before travelling using the National Rail journey planner, external.

What we know about the cause of the disruptionpublished at 08:52 BST 7 August

08:52 BST 7 August

Katy Austin
Transport correspondent

The origin of the problem was a 90-second power cut in Manchester. How the railway infrastructure coped and responded to that will now come under scrutiny.

The power failure affected Network Rail's important operations centre in Manchester. A source told me yesterday afternoon that there is a backup supply, but there was a delay to this coming into effect. Signalling was affected by this; everything had to stop. And railway systems had to be rebooted.

The impact of mass disruption can last a long time because the railway is very busy and timetables are complex. So when trains and crews end up displaced, the knock-on effect is significant.

Ollie Samuels
BBC Lancashire

It’s business as usual at Preston station this morning, with most trains running on time.

The station was one of many affected by yesterday’s power failure.

Those that aren’t on time are only delayed briefly. The boards show the 08:50 to Manchester Airport has been cancelled, but there’s a train one minute later to the same destination.

It’s fairly quiet at the station, as passengers with wheelie suitcases wait for the train to Stirling, which has been delayed by 10 minutes.

Image source, EPA

Manchester’s Bee Network is continuing to accept train tickets on bus services across the city and on all Metrolink lines.

Yesterday, the network - run by Transport for Greater Manchester - said tickets could be accepted across its routes because of delays and cancellations.

The Bee Network is Greater Manchester’s integrated transport system, bringing services such as buses and trams under local public control.

Network Rail says most train services are running this morning at Manchester Piccadilly following Thursday's power failure.

However, it warns that some disruption remains and some services are affected.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

You may be entitled to some money back if your train journey is delayed or cancelled because of the disruption.

National Rail says different train companies have different schemes, but adds that "they all offer compensation".

The amount you receive may depend on the type of ticket you have. For example, compensation for a single-day ticket is calculated differently from that for a season ticket.

It will also depend on the length of the delay - longer delays tend to entitle you to more compensation. Each train company has its own compensation threshold.

Claims can be made online or by post, using a form you can download from a train company website or get from a staffed station, according to National Rail.

You can also use the nationwide Delay Repay scheme.