Trains across the UK have been cancelled after a power cut at train operator CrossCountry’s control centre.

The power outage started in Birmingham on Saturday and as a result, many of the systems used to manage the railway are unavailable, the operator said.

Services across almost all its routes, with cancellations affecting most routes from Glasgow to Penzance, until further notice as experiences outage causes “significant and unforeseen disruption”.

Customers on social media have described the situation as “stressful” and a “worst case scenario”, with some taking coaches before continuing their train journey with another operator.

“A massive thank you to Cross Country Trains for cancelling my train this morning to Birmingham. You are truly not fit for service. You have also cancelled my train coming back but that is immaterial. Useless. Utterly useless,” one user on X said.

Major routes between Manchester and Birmingham, which passes through Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Wolverhampton, along with routes from Leeds to York, Cheltenham to Cardiff and Glasgow to Edinburgh, are all affected.

Services to Plymouth and Penzance are also disrupted with customers relying on Great Western Railway operators as a replacement.

“We are working closely with relevant partners and will provide further updates as soon as possible,” a CrossCountry spokesperson said.

While the operator usually calls at more than 100 stations, it said that the only route expecting a “near-normal” service was between Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

The company apologised to passengers affected and said tickets were being accepted by other operators.

Customers are entitled to Delay Repay compensation if their train is delayed by 30 minutes or more, while those who choose not to travel can claim a refund for their journey.

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