- Published
The power failure which hit a Network Rail operations centre in Manchester was a rare incident.
asserted
which → publish → Manchester
But after commuters were left facing chaos, it has raised questions about how a short outage at one operating centre could have a widespread impact.
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outage → leave → impact
Network Rail will face scrutiny for how its systems coped and responded to the outage.
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systems → face → outage
That's the publicly-owned body whose job it is to operate and maintain Britain's railway infrastructure.
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it → own → infrastructure
That means the tracks, signals, embankments and major stations.
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That → mean → tracks
It was at Network Rail's operating centre in Manchester that the problem started.
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problem → start → Manchester
Its operating centres are where crucial controls are housed that let trains run safely across the country, with Manchester's centre responsible for large parts of the North West.
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centre → house → West
It was hit by a power cut in the area, which was resolved within 90 seconds.
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which → hit → seconds
Given the centre's importance, backups are in place.
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backups → give → place
But questions have been raised about how they responded.
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they → raise → ?
Chris Wright, north-west route director at Network Rail, told the BBC "we didn't experience a 90-second interruption," insisting its systems were back online sooner.
But he said some of Network Rail's communications systems "did not respond how we would have expected, and then needed reconfiguring and replacing".
"We've got to work really hard very quickly now to understand why that's the case," he added.
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he → tell → systems
Because signalling was affected - think of that essentially as the traffic lights of the railway - trains had to stop.
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trains → affect → railway
Systems had to be rebooted.
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Systems → have → ?
But there was some damage to those that control signalling, which took time to fix because of the need to replace certain parts.
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which → be → parts
Thinking about how busy parts of the rail network are, and how many trains and crews were left out of position across the North West of England and beyond, helps explain why the impact was so big.
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impact → think → England
Network Rail has apologised to customers and opened an investigation.
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Rail → apologise → investigation
Bosses say engineers have been working hard to "build additional resilience into our signalling systems to ensure that this doesn't happen again".
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this → say → systems
Network Rail has moved towards having 12 so-called Rail Operating Centres across Great Britain, replacing a previous structure of hundreds of older signal boxes.
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Rail → move → boxes
They are meant to be high tech hubs which centralise control of the network.
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which → mean → network
Manchester's Rail Operating Centre was opened in 2014.
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Centre → open → 2014
Experts have warned consolidating in this way means that if one centre is badly affected, the impact is much broader.
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impact → warn → way
Rail writer Christian Wolmar said the problem they have created is that "if one thing goes wrong, it can wipe out, as we saw, quite a lot of the network".
"So really they've got to start thinking about both resilience, but also whether the centralisation of all the signalling and communications into a very small number of places is the right thing to do," he added.
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he → say → places
But it is unlikely to inspire confidence among passengers who have in the past few years suffered from issues such as poor performance among operators, strikes and rising ticket prices.
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who → inspire → operators
Regulated fares have been frozen in England this year.
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fares → freeze → England
Rail engineer and writer Gareth Dennis also drew a link between the incident and the funding pressures and job cuts Network Rail has faced.
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Rail → draw → incident
He said it raised questions including: "Are their staff suitably resourced?
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staff → say → questions
Are there enough staff to be ensuring that things like those checks of that supply are happening?"
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things → ensure → supply
Network Rail gets five-year funding settlements, signed off by the government.
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Rail → get → government
The latest one started in 2024.
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one → start → 2024
The government committed £44.1bn for the 2024-29 period of the strategic business plan, a £3bn increase from the previous five years.
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government → commit → years
Factors including rising costs due to inflation and a rise in extreme weather events have left its funding under severe pressure.
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Factors → include → pressure
Introducing Network Rail's new business plan, former chief executive Andrew Haines said that, given the constrained budget, funding would "need to go further than ever before".
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funding → introduce → budget
The government's current rail policy centres around nationalising the passenger rail operators who weren't already in public control (a number of operators had already been nationalised under past Conservative governments) - then bringing the running of train services and the infrastructure under a new organisation called Great British Railways.
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number → centre → organisation
Network Rail is expected to be abolished as a separate entity.
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Rail → expect → entity
Ahead of that, some joint management teams have been formed, for example in the South West.
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teams → form → West
The question of how much taxpayer money to spend supporting both passenger rail services, and investing in infrastructure, is a significant one - and government budgets remain squeezed.
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budgets → spend → infrastructure
The Aporia
