Travel expert Simon Calder issued a grim warning to commuters as he appeared on GB News Breakfast from London's Euston Station, where travel chaos saw commuters stranded. Speaking to host Ellie Costello and Will Godley just before 6.30am, he explained a 90-second power failure at the rail operating centre in East Manchester had brought hundreds of trains to a halt.
Severe Disruption Across the North West
"People hoping to travel from here to Liverpool and Manchester [from Euston], unfortunately, the first two trains to those cities have been cancelled," he shared. "We've got later cancellations on Avanti West Coast, and if you go further north, in the unlikely event you're able to get to Manchester, you will find that there are more problems there. Many, many cancellations. Northern Trains, which runs commuter services across the North-west of England, says not to travel before 10 am if you can avoid it. Loads of cancellations to places like Buxton, Chester, Crewe, Liverpool, Blackpool, Sheffield, Stoke, and also the line from Preston to Lancaster and Barrow, and this is all as a result of a brief 90-second power failure at the rail operating centre in East Manchester, which brought hundreds of trains to a halt."
Explaining the issue further, he said: "It took an hour or two to sort those out. There are all kinds of problems with the signalling. Engineers have been working all night, but a major disruption is expected until the end of the day, according to the rail industry."
No Alternatives for Frustrated Commuters
Despite this, he couldn't shed any light on alternatives for frustrated commuters, telling viewers he hadn't been able to get any answers.
"It's rare, but it's not the first time that we have seen communication systems failing, and since it is such an important part of the infrastructure, it means so much for so many people's journeys.
"And apart from anything else, you've got to have confidence in the railway to get you where you need to be," he said. "That is very concerning, and I hope that that will be investigated as soon as possible to avoid a repeat."
Flights Also Affected
He also warned people that the usual contingency of taking an internal flight within the UK was probably not an option in this case.
"If you were thinking, okay, well, I'll fly from London to Manchester or back, well, that's going to be [a problem] because BA just put in a couple of cancellations to Manchester, as well as to Dublin to Edinburgh, and also to Zagreb in Croatia, presumably as a result of all the chaos at Heathrow yesterday," he said.
He was referring to the fire which erupted near Heathrow Airport on Thursday afternoon, prompting the closure of one of the air hub's runways.
