Power outage at Leeds Station leads to widespread rail disruption

The power cut has caused major disruption to rail services at Leeds station.

National Rail said the outage was caused by a failure in the signaling system, meaning lines are currently blocked, causing a number of services to be canceled or delayed.

LNER services between London and Leeds and Bradford Forster Square are affected, as well as all Northern, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express services.

Some services had returned at 16:30 GMT, but National Rail said the disruption was expected to last until 19:00.

LNER said that due to the severity of the disruption and the number of cancellations, customers were advised to postpone travel and use their tickets for services later or on Monday.

It added that passengers will be able to use their tickets with other train companies at no extra cost.

Northern said none of its services were currently running via Leeds, while TransPennine Express said lines between Manchester Victoria and York via Leeds had been closed.

Both train operators said they did not have rail replacement transportation.

CrossCountry said there was “limited road transport” between York and Leeds.

Network Rail said the signaling failure was the result of a faulty cable, which affected several platforms at Leeds station until around 10:50pm.

A spokesperson said: “Engineers attended the site and restored power by 13:20. Some services were canceled or delayed, and passengers are advised to continue checking before travelling.

“We apologize for the disruption and thank passengers for their patience.”

Hundreds of people are waiting at Leeds station to see if they will be able to travel today.

Commuters face an additional challenge as the city center hosted a 10km run this morning with more than 12,000 participants.

Katie had just driven the AB Dash and was waiting to go home to Menston.

She said: “My train to come here was canceled and how come I can’t get home.”

She said she wouldn’t wait much longer because she was getting cold in the shorts.

She added: “I feel like running home to the canal!”

Helen, from Bingley, also took part in the event and is looking forward to going home, but said: “I’m not thinking of running back at all!”

Other passengers affected included Gillian Potter, who was due to get on the 13:05 service to King’s Cross, the first leg of her more than 18-hour journey to Thailand.

She said: “I’m trying to stay calm because I can’t really do anything, is that it?”

Ms Potter, whose flight departs Heathrow at 21:00 GMT, had already left her home near Wetherby for her eight-week visit.

She said: “It’s a bit worrying for me to get where I am, but my son is with me and I was supposed to meet him at King’s Cross anyway. So he’s ringing them up and telling them I won’t be on the 13:05 train.”

Meanwhile, the disruption has also affected other stations including Doncaster, where other passengers have been affected as many trains are due to travel through Leeds.