CrossCountry aims to restore full service after power cut disruption
CrossCountry cancelled nearly all trains after a power cut at its Birmingham control centre, but says a full service should resume tomorrow.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Rail passengers across Britain faced major disruption today after CrossCountry cancelled nearly all of its services following a power cut at the company's control centre in Birmingham.
Travellers arriving at stations were met with notice that trains were not running. One passenger described being told there was no service to Cheltenham. Another couple, travelling with parents, said they had to change their plans and worry about overcrowding on alternative services. They added that they would now get back much later with Avanti, which was a real shame.
The power cut knocked out the systems used to manage CrossCountry's services. The disruption stretched across the country, from Scotland to the south-west, although services between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport were running close to normal.
CrossCountry serves more than 100 stations, but today services on almost all of its routes were withdrawn. The company has apologised and said it is working to restore services as a priority in time for Monday morning's rush hour.
The disruption comes just months after CrossCountry was ranked Britain's worst train operator for passenger satisfaction. There are also questions being raised about why backup generators and contingency plans did not work. One commentator asked why it was not possible to transfer control to another switching centre.
The company said it aims to have a full service running again tomorrow.
On screen
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Key Claims
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Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The BBC focused on the human impact, with interviews with passengers and a critical look at the lack of backup systems. It also placed the disruption in context of CrossCountry's recent poor satisfaction ranking. The later weather bulletin repeated the key details and added the news that a full service should resume tomorrow.
- “I'd gone into the train station and they'd just told me that there's no trains running from this station to Cheltenham.”
- “There are legitimate questions to be asked about why contingencies and plan Bs and backup generators didn't work on this occasion.”
- “Cross country has apologised and says it's working to restore services as a priority in time for Monday morning's rush hour.”
The 5 News coverage was brief and to the point, stating the fact of the cancellations, mentioning the specific affected routes, and noting the recent ranking. It provided no passenger reaction or detailed analysis, focusing on the essential information and moving on to other stories.
- “Trains across the UK have been cancelled after a power cut at Cross Country's Control Centre in Birmingham.”
- “Cross Country was ranked Britain's worst rail operator just two months ago.”
Broadcast Timeline
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