曼彻斯特铁路运营中心周四下午发生停电事故，导致英国西北部地区铁路网络信号系统失效。[1] 应急发电机未能及时启动，造成信号传输中断。[1] Northern、TransPennine Express、Avanti West Coast、CrossCountry、East Midlands Railway、London Northwestern和Transport for Wales等多家运营商的列车出现大规模取消和延误，影响范围涵盖大曼彻斯特地区、中部地区和英格兰西北部。[1]
英国国家铁路西北路线主管克里斯·赖特表示："我们为受曼彻斯特电力问题影响的乘客道歉，这造成了城市列车的严重延误。"[1] 电力恢复后仍需进行系统安全重启程序，预计全天都将持续受到影响。[1] 针对此次事故，大曼彻斯特地区乘客获准免费使用Bee Network公交或Metrolink地铁服务作为应急措施。[1]
A power failure at Manchester's railway operations centre on Thursday afternoon triggered widespread disruptions across the north-west region and beyond.[1] The outage, which occurred before 2 p.m., disabled the signalling system after backup generators failed to activate promptly, forcing multiple train operators to cancel and delay services.[1]
The disruption affected seven railway companies operating across Greater Manchester, the Midlands, and north-west England, including Northern, TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern, and Transport for Wales.[1] Chris Wright, the Network Rail route director for the north-west, apologized to affected passengers, stating: "We're sorry to passengers impacted by a power issues in Manchester which is causing significant delays to trains through the city."[1] Despite restoration of electricity, the signalling infrastructure required a full safety restart, meaning disruptions were expected to persist throughout the day.[1]
In response, Greater Manchester authorities offered affected passengers free access to alternative transport, including services on the Bee Network bus system and Metrolink tram network.[1]