The government is letting the train operating companies take the hit for delays and cancellations which were rife on the network over the last two days. They have to handle the passengers, try to find alternatives for them, and pay them compensation.
This was yet another case when the blame rests elsewhere. Their trains were working, their crews had turned up. The trains were held up by all signal lights going to red owing to signal failure. Signals and the power for them are firmly under the control of long nationalised Network Rail.
Network Rail can say the immediate cause was a ninety second power cut by the electricity supplier. They are meant to be able to handle that with stand by emergency power. That apparently failed.
I heard a nationalised rail apologist on the radio blame inadequate funding and staffing of Network Rail for the chaos. Network Rail was set up under a previous Labour government and has enjoyed two years of more generous Labour settlements under this government. Surely something as crucial as back up power for signals, central to safe running, should have been an affordable priority?
The nationalised railway needs to get more used to power cuts.With more renewables on the grid there will be more supply interruptions. Spain was a warning where general power cuts closed down the trains and took out the traffic lights, causing road chaos as well. Travellers do not want to spend hours in a stopped train, which could be even worse in a tunnel.If nationalisation is so wonderful why can’t it run a signalling system to keep the trains running?
August 8, 2026
Network Rail is a case in point and to my mind as a long term rail observer has become too comfortable as a non customer facing entity merely dictating to the train operating companies – which won’t change under toc state control.
Another thing, which most people will not know, is that much of the running control of the affected area had been centralised under something called the Manchester ROC (Rail Operations Centre). These ROC’s are taking over nationwide and put simply, too many eggs are being placed in one basket. This may, or may not have had something to do with the issue.
August 8, 2026
Whether nationalised or privatised they can get away with it. There should be penalties for failure starting at the top. Termination of employment or reduction in pay if the service fails to meet an acceptable, measurable level of service.
Governments should push this through. Instead the railways are allowed to get away with saying sorry all time and offering various excuses.
August 8, 2026
Good morning My Lord,
It did seem odd to me that the state has pushed for more and more electrification. We know that renewables are unreliable if the wind doesn’t blow nor the sun shines. We’ve seen mile upon mile of an overhead caternary system installed around Tyford station. It seems folly to me for a whole host of reasons.
We see a push for electric cars, electric heating whilst, all the time, expanding unreliable sources of renewable energy.
I would have thought, if a fully electrified railway was desired, a SMR would have been a sensible choice.