Delays are set to have a major knock-on effect into Friday after yesterday's travel chaos.

04:18, Fri, Aug 7, 2026 Updated: 04:18, Fri, Aug 7, 2026

Passengers look towards the departure boards as trains are cancelled and delayed from leaving Euston

Passengers look towards the departure boards as trains are cancelled and delayed from leaving Euston (Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Millions of rail passengers are again to be hit by travel chaos this Friday morning after an external power outage caused an electricity supply failure at a communications centre in Manchester. The disruption, which began shortly before 2pm on Thursday, has affected signalling and triggered widespread cancellations yesterday, delays and altered services across Greater Manchester and the North West of England.

Further disruptions are in store for Friday as many trains and their crew “are not where they would normally be after this unexpected incident”, National Rail have said.

The outage has impacted several operators, including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Merseyrail, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales. National Rail has warned major disruption will continue until the end of the day, while Northern has cautioned passengers to expect disruption into Friday morning and advised people to avoid travelling before 10am if possible.

Where we stand as of Friday morning

Train passengers face further travel chaos on Friday morning after a power outage ground trains to a halt across the Midlands and north-west England.

Electricity cut out in the main control hub for north-west England’s railways, the Manchester Rail Operating Centre near Ashburys station in the city’s east.

The failure, shortly before 2pm on Thursday, has caused widespread cancellations and delays to services.

Engineers are making “good progress” fixing signalling issues but there will be cancellations for the rest of the night, Network Rail said on Thursday night.

Further disruption tomorrow is likely because many trains and their crew “are not where they would normally be after this unexpected incident”, it added.