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Fri, 07 Aug 2026

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 How a 90-second power outage sparked chaos for rail commuters

The incident raised questions about how a disrupted power supply can have such a widespread impact.

* A power failure at Network Rail's operations centre in Manchester caused widespread disruption to rail services across the North West.
* The incident highlighted concerns about the resilience of Network Rail's systems and the impact of a single outage on the entire network.
* Chris Wright, north-west route director at Network Rail, said that while the system was back online within 90 seconds, some communications systems did not respond as expected and needed reconfiguring and replacing.
* The incident has raised questions about the centralisation of signalling and communications into a small number of places, which experts warn can leave the network vulnerable to single-point failures.
* Network Rail has apologised for the disruption and is conducting an investigation.
* Experts have linked the incident to funding pressures and job cuts at Network Rail, which has led to concerns about staff resources and ability to ensure system checks.
* The government's plan to nationalise passenger rail operators and create a new organisation called Great British Railways may lead to changes in how Network Rail operates.