Cross Country Trains - as at 1st May 2020, extracted from https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/disruption

An hourly train service will be operating on the following routes:
* Manchester Piccadilly – Reading, extending to Bournemouth every other hour
* Bristol Temple Meads – Newcastle, extending to Plymouth and Edinburgh every other hour
* Birmingham New Street – Leicester, extending to Cambridge every other hour
* Nottingham – Birmingham New Street, extending to Cardiff every other hour

There will be some additional services in the morning and evening peak, and additional calls will be made at Birmingham’s University station every other hour.

Services between Cheltenham Spa and Cardiff Central will be timed for alternate hours to the Transport for Wales services.

Cross Country will not be serving Audley End, Stansted Airport, Doncaster, Weston-super-Mare, Bath Spa, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton, Guildford, stations west of Plymouth, or beyond Edinburgh to Glasgow, Dundee or Aberdeen.

Sticky topics - please post follow ups / detail / changes

 
Cross-Country are dropping Winchester and Brockenhurst stops from 6th July.

From https://www.47soton.co.uk/

 

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/travel-updates-information/changes-to-train-times?date=06+July+2020&filter=crosscountry#future

 
Difficult to find detailed information on Cross Country's web site. I seemed to go round and round in circles

 
Always used to think more people got on and off at Winchester than Southampton Airport Parkway. Probably even more so now with the demise of Flybe.

Brockenhurst understandable with the current rearrangement of Isle of Wight ferries.

 
Found it in the end https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/disruption You need to scroll down the page for services from the 6th of July. Timetable shown as running through to the 4th of September.

 
XC are starting to mothball the HST fleet, split some double unit allocations and cancel other services entirely, due to driver unavailability. This is due to the expiration of drivers test day working agreements with ASLEF. major overcrowding is expected side to cancellations and short formations of services sold as double units or HSTs.

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/disruption



Monday 29th November to Friday 3rd December Impact (Note: may be subject to minor amendment)

The following services are cancelled and will not run:
• 0714 Reading to Manchester
• 0812 Bristol to Paignton
• 1712 Bristol to Paignton
• 1014 Paignton to Bristol
• 2020 Paignton to Bristol
• 0658 Cardiff to Bristol
• 0515 Cambridge to Birmingham
• 2022 Birmingham to Cambridge
• 1427 Stansted Airport to Birmingham
• 1527 Stansted Airport to Birmingham
• 0922 Birmingham to Stansted
• 1022 Birmingham to Stansted
• 0652 Birmingham to Leicester
• 0752 Birmingham to Leicester
• 1752 Birmingham to Leicester
• 0818 Leicester to Birmingham
• 0915 Leicester to Birmingham
• 1918 Leicester to Birmingham
• 0907 Nottingham to Cardiff
• 1107 Nottingham to Cardiff
• 1245 Cardiff to Nottingham
• 1445 Cardiff to Nottingham
• 1950 Cardiff to Nottingham
• 0719 Birmingham to Nottingham
• 0912 Birmingham to Nottingham
• 1819 Birmingham to Nottingham
• 0737 Nottingham to Birmingham
• 1641 Nottingham to Birmingham
• 1845 Nottingham to Birmingham
 
 The following services are subject to alterations
• 1427 Manchester to Bournemouth terminates Southampton
• 1945 Bournemouth to Manchester starts Reading
• 1927 Manchester to Southampton starts Birmingham
• 1845 Bournemouth to Manchester terminates Birmingham
• 1327 Stansted Airport to Birmingham start at Cambridge
• 1411 Birmingham to Stansted terminates at Cambridge
• 1730 Nottingham to Cardiff terminate at Birmingham

HST utilisation will result in the services below running as a 4 car voyager
• 1V44 0611 Leeds to Plymouth
• 1S51 1227 Plymouth to Edinburgh
• 1V50 0606 Edinburgh to Plymouth
• 1E63 1527 Plymouth to Leeds
• 1V54 0808 Edinburgh to Bristol Temple Meads
• 1S53 1535 Bristol Temple Meads to Edinburgh

As a result the following services will be running as single Voyager sets
• 1S29 05.43 Leeds to Edinburgh 5 car voyager
• 1V52 07.01 Edinburgh to Plymouth 4 car voyager
• 1E67 16.27 Plymouth to Leeds 4 car voyager
• 1S35 06.34 Bristol Temple Meads to Edinburgh 4 car voyager
• 1O26 16:27 Manchester to Birmingham
• 1O30 18:27 Manchester to Birmingham
• 1O04 05:11 Manchester to Bournemouth
• 1O14 10:27 Manchester to Reading
• 1M46 11:45 Bournemouth to Manchester
• 1M50 14:15 Reading to Manchester
• 1M78 19:45 Bournemouth to Birmingham
• 1V60 08:20 Aberdeen to Bristol

Saturday December 4th Impact (Note: may be subject to minor amendment)
The following services are cancelled and will not run:
• 1V41 0810 Bristol to Paignton
• 1M41 1010 Paignton to Bristol
• 1V13 1607 Nottingham to Cardiff
• 1M85 2000 Cardiff to Nottingham
• 1N40 0515 Cambridge to Birmingham
• 1L30 0722 Birmingham to Stansted
• 2K58 2027 Stansted to Cambridge
• 2K98 2327 Stansted to Cambridge
• 1B61 2135 Aberdeen to Edinburgh
• 1C80 1900 Glasgow to Edinburgh
• 2A01 0642 Dundee to Aberdeen
• 1H09 0557 Birmingham to Manchester
• 1O02 0604 Birmingham to Reading
• 1M26 0815 Reading to Manchester
• 1O18 1227 Manchester to Reading
• 1M58 1615 Reading to Manchester
• 1G81 2027 Manchester to Birmingham
• 1E38 0630 Birmingham to Newcastle
• 1V87 1035 Newcastle to Birmingham
• 1E44 1428 Birmingham to Newcastle
• 1M72 1835 Newcastle to Birmingham
• 1S43 1035 Bristol Temple Meads to Glasgow
• 1M00 1808 Edinburgh to Birmingham
• 1P30 2018 Leicester to Birmingham
• 1D74 1812 Birmingham to Nottingham
• 1K25 1752 Birmingham to Leicester
• 1P28 1918 Leicester to Birmingham
• 1L44 1422 Birmingham to Stansted
• 1N67 1827 Stansted to Birmingham
• 1L40 1222 Birmingham to Stansted
• 1N63 1627 Stansted to Birmingham
• 1K09 0952 Birmingham to Leicester
• 1P12 1118 Leicester to Birmingham
• 1K29 1952 Birmingham to Leicester
• 1P32 2118 Leicester to Birmingham
• 1L28 0622 Birmingham to Stansted
• 1M99 1245 Cardiff to Nottingham

Part cancellation:
• 1D65 1412 Birmingham to Nottingham terminates Derby
• 1L00 0705 Gloucester to Stansted terminates Cambridge
• 1N53 1127 Stansted to Birmingham starts Cambridge
• 1L48 1622 Birmingham to Stansted terminates Cambridge
• 1L54 1922 Birmingham to Stansted terminates Cambridge
• 1N69 1927 Stansted to Birmingham starts Cambridge
• 1L46 1522 Birmingham to Stansted terminates Cambridge
• 1L50 1722 Birmingham to Stansted terminates Cambridge
• 1O06 0642 Nottingham to Reading terminates Birmingham
• 1O08 0727 Manchester to Bournemouth starts Birmingham
• 1S45 0927 Plymouth to Aberdeen terminates Edinburgh
• 1V60 Aberdeen to Penzance starts Edinburgh
• 1M80 1709 Edinburgh to Birmingham starts Newcastle
• 1S53 15.35 Bristol to Edinburgh terminates Newcastle
• 1V06 0907 Nottingham to Cardiff terminates Birmingham
• 1V46 0611 York to Plymouth starts Derby
• 1S55 1427 Plymouth to Edinburgh terminates Newcastle
• 1N51 1027 Stansted to Birmingham starts Leicester
• 1N53 1127 Stansted to Birmingham starts Cambridge

HST utilisation will result in the services below running as a 4 car voyager
• 1S33 0703 Birmingham to Newcastle
• 1V50 0606 Edinburgh to Plymouth
• 1V52 0701 Edinburgh to Plymouth
• 1E67 1627 Plymouth to Leeds
• 1S29 0738 Newcastle to Edinburgh 4 car voyager

 
Worrying to hear.  Especially given that XC have only been running half the normal timetable on many routes (albeit mostly with double sets), and with Christmas coming up.

 

Whatever happened to having a reliable product and customer service?

 

Don’t shoot the messenger!

 

Wasn't my intent ... sorry if it came across as than - indeed, thank you, messenger for bringing this to our attention.

 
Cross country seem to have given up on running a train service. They are running about half of the pre-covid services so why is there a driver shortage. They should not have been heavily relying on rest day working unless their drivers have been poached by other operators. A;lso I fail to see why the lack of drivers should result in short formations, A train. however long, only requires a single driver.

 
The problem I believe is heightened by a lack of HST trained drivers, as many new starts have been taken on over the last couple of years but Covid has meant there have been limits to training opportunities. This lack of HST trained drivers had been mitigated by RDW of those with the skills but with that coming to and end a decision was made to mothball the fleet. This means that services which currently run doubled are being short formed to compensate.

 

No doubt, but to the average passenger or news reporter this looks like ANOTHER case of storing (and then presumably scrapping) serviceable older trains whilst passengers have to stand on the new shorter trains.

Whilst the railway industry no doubt regards shorter trains flexible train length as an improvement, those who used to get a seat on a full length HST but now have to stand on a newer shorter train may not agree.

Likewise, withdrawing older trains and being totally reliant on new shorter units no doubt reduces training requirements, but is hardly an improvement for passengers.

I, and many others, were very critical of the new Voyagers as being too short. Advocates of the new shorter trains pointed out that;
1) They would be more frequent.
2) That selected services would be "double length" (i.e. a pair of 4 car units with nearly as many seats as ALL the old trains had)
3) That some HSTs would be retained to provide extra capacity.

And look at what has been achieved, reduced services, single units replacing doubled up ones, HSTs "mothballed" which is probably code for "about to be withdrawn"

It was such a success that a another load of new shorter trains were ordered for GWR, with similar promises made about running them in pairs, and retaining some HSTs for longer distance services.

 
Cross Country was always known as the Cinderella of the Intercity network. You couldn’t even call it that now.

What a pathetic service this has become. The rot set in as Broadgage points out when short rolling stock in the form of Voyagers replaced full length HSTs and the loco hauled sets.

 

As the forum's spokesman for its minority "we quite like Voyagers" group, could I point out that when they were introduced they were a huge improvement over the tired old mark 2 sets we used to have (I remember the "how many toilets are out of action on today's train" gamble you would take towards the end of their use), avoided the need to run a locomotive around the set at Reading, and in the year after Virgin introduced them it was reported that the "Reading to Birmingham corridor" experienced the largest growth in passenger traffic in the country.

OK, it's a shame they didn't respond by lengthening all sets to 5 car sets in response to the demand, but the switch from locomotive hauled to multiple unit working was not a step back - it was a big one forward, just like the introduction of HSTs 25 years before.

I agree though that XC is a Cinderella service, and really hope that here on the south-eastern leg we'll be back to the pre-covid hourly direct services to Manchester, Southampton and Newcastle and thereby the twice an hour service to Birmingham. 

 
The rot really set in for me with DfT no growth assumption contracts which froze out stock increases. Although the half length but double frequency service struck problems from the start around peak local times and that in some areas such as Leamington to Birmingham NS via Coventry the frequency could not be doubled (the alternate services going via Solihull).

 

My Dad who was keen on the Voyagers told me how  frequency doubling was the answer to the shorter trains. So then he actually used one during a peak hour and it was packed to the rafters like a tube carriage. He revised his opinion after that. I seem to remember the Voyagers having toilets that needed to be reset or rebooted. If somebody went in there locked the door and didn't use the toilet, (just washed their hands for example) unlocked and left the toilet then the thing locked up. It displayed "out of order" and needed to be reset or rebooted by the train manager.  Also the smell from the toilets was horrendous I think these may be fixed now.

 
Is it still the case that use of Crosscountry is tilted heavily towards shorter journeys, with long distance travel in the minority?

With their network now massively capacity constrained, advance purchase fares will no longer be a thing for the time being.

Also, anecdote: from Bristol/Bath, for long distance journeys especially north of Birmingham, people tend to be pulled to travel via London for reasons of space/train smell/cost/. Bristol to Manchester was good, but it's gone.

 
https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/members-updates/senior-conductorstrain-managers-duties--cross-country171121/

 I believe, not confirmed, that the above industrial action is also a contributing factor.

 

And that is no bad thing! It is good for those of us around here to have non-stop Reading to Basingstoke trains, and extra Reading-Oxford through trains, trains to Banbury that do not stop at Heyford, King's Sutton and Banbury, and so on. Anyone elsewhere on the XC network will be able to substitute similar additional useful services they provide. I think it is a win-win situation when there is a service that provides a service to places throughout the country that save changing trains or going through London, and provides additional (and in some cases better) services between the places they stop at on the way. What is not to like?

 
Just done a return trip Manchester - Cholsey on a very reasonable (by comparison  ) first class open return on a Senior Railcard. No host or or snacks in the rear half (unreserved) but this isn't my first rodeo. Survived quite comfortably with the help of Mr Tesco (proof of age required) before I hit Piccadilly.

 

There is no RMT action at the moment. But there is a ballot ongoing. Also plans to use some HST's on Sundays

 

XC have started to use their HST fleet again.  Specifically for this week there's at least two diagrams helping to provide additional capacity for Cheltenham Festival racegoers.

 
From the Department for Transport[url]


No mention of Guildford, Paignton, Newquay or Bath

Edit to add - list of all recent documents for all franchises at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/rail-franchising

 
Glad to see Reading-Newcastle in there - thought it wasn't going to continue after the pandemic (not running currently)

 
I heard a strong rumour RDG<>NCL is planned to make a return next May.

 
It's been a poor week for CrossCountry.

No full cancellations listed today, but a whole raft of part cancellations, some quite significant:

06:24 Newcastle to Reading due 11:09
06:28 Penzance to Edinburgh due 17:08
06:39 Nottingham to Bournemouth due 11:13
06:45 Reading to Newcastle due 11:45
07:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 12:13
08:03 Manchester Piccadilly to Paignton due 13:07
08:40 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly due 13:29
09:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 14:13
09:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly due 14:29
10:14 Paignton to Manchester Piccadilly due 14:59
10:35 Newcastle to Reading due 15:05
11:27 Plymouth to Edinburgh due 20:04
11:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly due 16:29
11:45 Reading to York due 15:39
12:36 Newcastle to Reading due 17:14
12:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly due 17:29
13:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 18:17
14:03 Manchester Piccadilly to Paignton due 18:53
14:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 19:13
14:38 Paignton to Manchester Piccadilly due 19:59
14:45 Reading to Newcastle due 20:01
15:24 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 20:16
15:43 Reading to York due 19:42
17:23 Plymouth to Leeds due 23:34
17:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth due 22:15
17:45 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly due 22:30
19:45 Bournemouth to Birmingham New Street due 22:48
20:19 Paignton to Birmingham New Street due 23:55
23:09 Birmingham New Street to Nottingham due 00:18

Now, a list that long looks bad when TG posts the GWR alterations, but for an operator of much fewer services like CrossCountry it's far worse.  Especially now that many of them are now back down to 4-car trains .

 
I was planning a day of travelling for the last time on a XC HST tomorrow with the added incentive of the diverts via Newport. After seeing the forecast high winds decided better of it. One tree down on the line anywhere between Plymouth and Birmingham would cause me issues. Now seeing this list of cancellations, though its for today, that's definitely made my mind up not to go. I had a pretty tight connection at New Street as it was with everything running smoothly.

 
People said that train drivers should leave and do something else if they aren’t happy with their pay and conditions.

So they are.

 
Sorry for those who do not like Voyagers, but
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-68657138
as a humble traveller more trains and less overcrowding will be welcome.

 

Indeed


Replacements for the gap left by the withdrawal of the HSTs - and (?) some more.

 
Perhaps reinstating the third XC through to/from Penzance that hasn't reappeared post Covid and also Summer Saturday services to Newquay!!

won't be holding my breath..

 
My main uses of Cross Country is travelling to Worcestorshire Parkway ( I have to change at Cheltenham) and Liverpool Lime St (change at Birmingham or Stafford).

Cross country from Bristol to Birmingham needs 8 carriages for many journeys (morning and evening), and adding more 4-car or 5-car trains will stop all the regular, spurious cancellations, but not really address capacity.

A direct stopping service from Bristol to Birmingham Moor St would certainly help (GWR?)!

Direct trains from Bristol to Liverpool stopped about 20 years ago when the WCML was upgraded, but it would be nice if Cross Country added Liverpool back in the mix every 2-3 hours.

 
Think these acquisitions is more about increasing capacity on existing services than the introduction of additional services.

 
That useful... was it Portsmouth to Liverpool... regional railways train... that appeared possibly a little before privatisation and disappeared as soon as was (indecently) possible thereafter... as no franchise appeared tasked with what what the then Regional Railways conspired to do, more's the pity.

That train dropped by Bath Spa at around 8:30am, can't recall if it then missed Newport altogether* before heading up the Marches line, across to Crewe and then to Liverpool.

Mark

* In the days before the Maindee curve at Newport got the MVP** treatment.

** "Minimum Viable Product"***.

*** Perhaps 'MVP' should be a new target for a Coffeeshop TLA buster. Wikipedia indicates that an MVP may be put in place when the viability of something need to be proved - that is, to maximise the benefit, that should be quickly followed by a plan A, B or C and I'm not quite confident the DfT or various other transport bodies get the principle of a follow-through - including the benefit of including a little passive provision, or at least not to heap expense in the way of further enhancement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product

 

I believe they are wanting to introduce the daily Cardiff<>Edinburgh service, refill the gaps in the Stansted service, and, from May 2025, restore the hourly Reading<>Newcastle’s only a few of which run now.

 

If Bristol to Worcester can merit a 5-car 80x then I think we can safely say that Cross Country merit some 9- and 5-car 80x stock, not least because they spend a considerable time under the wires, and probably settle the business case for Bromsgrove to Bristol and Birmingham to Derby.

IIRC, TfWM have an aspiration to run 1TPH to Bristol and 1TPH to Cardiff. I believe that there is also a plan afoot to beef up the Leeds to Nottingham stoppers (CC services to Chesterfield already having been significantly pruned) - I wonder at what point CC might introduce some kind of premium or reservation-only policy to keep the commuters out?

 
The latest track access application (TAA) did read that trains on the “Reading Newcastle service group” would be ‘mostly hourly’ from May/June 2025, but it’s suggested elsewhere that only alternate trains will be able to run north of York, because of the ongoing ECML capacity issues giving priority to London to Newcastle and Edinburgh trains.  They also refer to the “Reading Newcastle corridor” which is a somewhat loose term that possibly allows for shortening at either end.

I think it’s pretty clear another extension that’s never coming back is the 2 hourly Reading to Southampton Central, again they’re not mentioned in their TAA.

Paul

 
Just Need some extra drivers to go with the extra trains. Maybe they could get some from Avanti

 
60 new carriages after the withdrawal of 40 Mk3 carriages. Is that really a 25% increase in capacity?

 


Doesn't it depend on a 25% increase from when?

 

I guess it’s 25% from now, as the HSTs are long gone. But how often did they ever use more than 2 of them per day?  Does before and after diagrammed capacity give a different % figure to before and after fleet size?  Should the PR figures only consider the Voyagers, and seats on the north/south main network? Is the lack of any reported increase in the 170 fleet just a minor point that can be ignored?

 
MVP = Most Valued Professional, of Microsoft applications!

 
CrossCountry have previewed their new livery concept on their LinkedIn blog:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/crosscountry-trains_we-have-been-working-on-a-lot-of-exciting-activity-7189192983517278208-YRTF

 
Pedant Alert!

These are not new trains or carriages and it would be really good if the media could be persuaded to stop describing them as such.

I am not convinced by the proposed external decoration but the replacement interiors do look like a major improvement.

 
The forthcoming replacement interiors: are there visuals to be found please?

Mark

 
Some images at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/xc-voyager-refurbishment.261302/page-15

 
Hmm, 5000k daylight lighting, grey / light grey theme and Corporate Memphis feel to the artwork. Still, indirect lighting though which is good.

Why did rail companies discard the idea of warm calming interiors on trains? This stuff can look very bleak especially when it's dark outside.

Mark

 
Safe, reliable, value for money, comfortable, clean. All those are more important for me than interior colour schemes and liveries.

That said, I'd like to see every long distance train in BR InterCity Swallow livery.

 

Unfortunately you've fallen for an old trick. Run the stock into the ground, stop buying spare parts, cut back on maintenance and the grand launch is made. Look at working air conditioning, toilets, charging points etc. The staff warned the higher management that Operation Cinderella (Pumpkin) wouldn't work and look where we are almost 25 years later. Single units continually rammed to gunnels, toilets that smell and only now are Arriva dipping into someone's pocket for new seats and carpets. Add in the much reduced route map as well, where's Brighton, Swansea and Preston?

And what a coincidence, the HSTs were withdrawn from XC and there was a buyer. I'd never guessed...

 
It looks like Cross Country are removing first class from their Class 170 Turbostar services (Cardiff-Nottingham and Birmingham-Leicester/Stanstead) From the timetable change on the 15th December.

These trains are due for refurb so may mean the 2+1 seats are replaced with 2+2

 

Yet good interior design contributes to all five of those qualities. Safe. Reliable. Value for money. Comfortable. Clean.

Mark

 

Mmmmm ...............and if you replace the existing 2+2 seats with 2+3 seats that gives you 25% more seats (now where have I heard/seen that one before ??)  Gosh, I am getting cynical in my old age.

 
I have been cynical for many years.
"Providing more seats" sounds good but too often means higher density seating rather than longer trains.

 

Surely not? 

 
ALL Crosscountry services suspended [removed from timetable] due to a power failure at their control centre.

Several additional calls at Tiverton Parkway by GWR to cover.

 


"I was going out for the day to Birmingham.  Oh - never mind - I'll go to Reading instead"  ... there will be some slow old journeys, especially north from Cheltenham Spa, won't there?

 
Seems to be lack of contingency plan at work here.

Staff on the ground have mobile phones, staff at control centre could have emergency contact method if their main building is not available

Very similar to the recent Manchester area disruption, no proper back up power for critical computers, or slower older reserve that can be used instead

 
I find myself wondering how many other vital rail industry support services are there that do not have:

The service split over (at least) two geographically separate locations which have the ability to deal with all (or increased) comms traffic in the event of one site suffering a catastrophic failure
or
A single site which has duplicate power supply routes, UPS infrastructure, and back-up generators

I suspect quite a few. 

 
Northbound from Cheltenham a bit grim.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:CNM/to/gb-nr:BHM/2026-08-23/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt

Also Bristol to Exeter, were it not for the GWR Cardiff to Exeter service - but, that service has its last train at around 6:30pm - today flagged in the national rail site as both 'Fastest' and 'Slower journey'. With the Crosscountry services withdrawn, that site indicates a sole opportunity for Exeter later in the evening a bit before 9pm, with a change at Taunton.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:BRI/to/gb-nr:EXD/2026-08-23/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt

Mark

 
Good old CrossCountry - forever hopeless.

If this had been GWR then I'm sure some of our regular posters would have quite rightly been all over it.  Strange that it's only generated a handful of replies.

 

OK I'll bite.

Not to weigh in on the criticism... but to ask why "XC control" has become vital to the running of trains? Isn't the signalling and NR control function capable of meeting all the operational and safety requirements?

 

The XC Control Room duty manager would be needed to deal with incident management.  That could be something quite small such as dealing with a driver who has had a SPAD, to something more serious like stranded train scenarios, to something very serious such as an accident or derailment.  So I can understand why them being contactable and in contact with everyone is essential these days. 

Each TOC having back up facilities that can be fully operational within a couple of hours could also be regarded as essential.

 
Out of curiosity, I checked the "south-eastern" leg (Birmingham to Oxford, Reading and the South Coast) on their website which showed only an apology for reduced catering on most trains due to unavailability of staff. So perhaps "No trains on Cross-Country" is a bit of an exaggeration?

 

I believe a ChrisB style 'Hmmmm' is needed!  https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:OXF/2026-08-23/0000-2359?stp=WVSC&show=all&order=wtt&toc=XC

That page of the CrossCountry website, updated by Control Room staff of course, seems to be lying.  It has 13 cancellations company wide, all due to a shortage of train drivers.  I suspect those were all added before the power failure?

This page tells a rather different story:  https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/travel-information/disruption/latest-travel-information

 

They have both those....what they can't access is their software running the crew & stock diagrams, for example.

 
From the BBC:

 
Revisited this in the light of the comments above by checking National Rail departures from Reading- which showed all XC services due to run through Reading cancelled.  Oh dear.....

 

Which, if the case, in this day and age is frankly ridiculous.

 

Thanks for that insight, II. As the power failure was Saturday, and XC trains continued to run until close-of-play, I am going to guess that some other factors are more critical in XC's case. This evening, there have been a couple of trains between Birmingham and Derby/Leicester.  (but nothing else I've noticed so far).

Maybe a benefit of GBR would be the elimination of separate TOC/NR control offices?

 

They would still be vulnerable to power cuts, though, without a major integration and update of backup systems.  That will take time.  And money. 

 

But, even without upgrades, you have reduced the points-vulnerable-to-causing-total-failure (no train service) from 2 to 1. That ought to reduce the risk!

 
An update, from the BBC:

 

Cross Country are unique in that they provide only a proportion of services at most of the major stations they serve - though they are clearly unique to certain flows.  Even at Cheltenham Spa, only the 3rd (to Birmingham) and 10th (to Wolverhampton) flows are unique to them.    Not a single one of the top flows at Temple Meads is unique to them, though I grant you that Cheltenham Spa and Taunton passengers (4th and 5th) won't be happy about very much longer journey times today.    Add that this is a one-off today, it's a Sunday, and our board is very much regional and perhaps no great surprise as those factors come together.

 

It is ridiculous, did nobody have a paper copy or even a PDF of the crew & stock diagrams?
Even if the missing diagrams were the root of the problem, surely it would have been possible to produce a simplified set of diagrams. They might not have been able to cover every destination or maintain the full timetable, but they could at least have operated a reduced service, maybe use a tool such as  Excel!
Instead, it appears they decided the task was too difficult and simply cancelled everything.

Perhaps they should take some advice from their sister company, Chiltern Railways. Chiltern managed to find both crews and rolling stock to operate an almost hourly service between Oxford and Birmingham Moor Street via Banbury, to fill the gap left by XC.

 

I find myself agreeing that apparently having to adequate hot-linked backup looks very poor.  But once the failure with no apparent standby / alternative system available, perhaps the best way to get things back to running was for the (limited number available?) specialists to set a checkpoint and work it for a restart from there?   Just asking - I have no data that backs up the suggestion, but I am aware that looking for immediate fixes takes a lot of resource and can elongate the disruption.

 
What no one has considered is what they would have done in the case of an emergency - dealing with fatalities/derailment for example without a control would simply fall apart.

 

To be fair, even when control is working, when there is a problem, it often takes ages to inform passengers, or those waiting for a train, or get those disrupted to destination promptly.

Control is often so remote from the incident, that they are getting info (selective without full picture) second or third hand anyway, so questionable if better decisions are made than by those actually on front line.

 

The power went off on Saturday evening, I think around 19:50, yet all XC trains appear to have run until close of play so that doesn't seem to have been a problem.

Derailments are quite a rare event so why not take the risk and if such an event did occur then involve other operator's control rooms, XC tracks are all covered by other operators so presumably they would know what to do in the event of an incident.

 

Surely the main response to an emergency is by the ambulance service and the police force and possibly also the fire brigade, all of whom were working normally, and could be called by any passengers, staff, or passers by. Clearing the line of any debris is done by network rail, again without any need for the TOC control.

 

I very much considered it in post #7 yesterday!

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xkgkqjdqro

CrossCountry cancels trains due to driver shortage  (6th September 2026)
35 minutes ago
A number of CrossCountry rail services have been cancelled on Sunday due to a shortage of train drivers.

Services heading out of Birmingham to Reading, Newcastle, Nottingham will no longer run, as well as services into the city from Nottingham, Newcastle, Paignton, Bournemouth, Nottingham, Manchester Piccadilly and Bristol Temple Meads.

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