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CrossCountry provides long-distance rail services connecting major cities and towns across England, Scotland and Wales, including routes from Scotland and the North through Birmingham to the South West, South Coast and East of England

A major UK train operator has been forced to cancel services after a power outage has sparked travel chaos.

A power failure at CrossCountry's control centre in Birmingham, which began on Saturday, has triggered mass cancellations across the operator's network stretching from Glasgow to Penzance.

The outage has knocked out many of the systems required to run the railway, according to the train company, resulting in what it described as "significant and unforeseen disruption."

Services remain suspended across nearly all of CrossCountry's routes until further notice, with the operator — which normally serves more than 100 stations — left unable to run the vast majority of its timetable. Some passengers have resorted to taking coaches and switching to alternative operators to complete their journeys.

Routes between Manchester and Birmingham — running through Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Wolverhampton — are among those hit by the disruption.

Connections from Leeds to York, Cheltenham to Cardiff, and Glasgow to Edinburgh have also been affected.

Travellers heading to Plymouth and Penzance have been directed towards Great Western Railway services as an alternative.

The sole exception to the chaos is the Peterborough to Cambridge and Stansted Airport line, which CrossCountry said was expected to operate a "near-normal" timetable.

Every other part of the network remains subject to cancellations as engineers work to restore the control centre's systems.

Frustrated customers have taken to social media to vent their anger, with one user on X writing: "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."

Others described the situation as "stressful" and a "worst case scenario."

CrossCountry has apologised and confirmed that rival operators are honouring its tickets.

A spokesman said the company was "working closely with relevant partners" and would issue updates as soon as possible.

Passengers whose trains are delayed by 30 minutes or more can claim Delay Repay compensation, while those opting not to travel are entitled to a full refund.

National Rail have confirmed that disrupted travellers can use London Underground services at no extra cost as well as West Midlands Metro services between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street.

Tickets that were bought for travel today are set to remain valid until the end of the day on Wednesday.

A CrossCountry spokesman said: "A power cut in Birmingham city centre has affected the building where our control centre is located. As a result, many of the systems our control teams use to manage the railway are currently unavailable.

"Although colleagues are working hard to safely operate services using alternative processes, CrossCountry services will be significantly disrupted on Sunday, August 23. While we will run as many trains as possible, passengers should expect significant reductions to services and cancellations across almost all CrossCountry routes throughout the day.

"We are sorry to passengers affected by this significant and unforeseen disruption. Ticket acceptance is in place with other train operators, and customers will be entitled to Delay Repay compensation.

"Customers who choose not to travel can claim a refund from their original point of purchase. We are working closely with relevant partners and will provide further updates as soon as possible."