Rail passengers across north-west England are being treated to a second consecutive day of travel chaos, courtesy of a power failure that knocked out the region's signalling centre. The outage, which struck shortly before 2pm on Thursday, sent CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway services into a tailspin, with cancellations and delays rippling across the network.

Friday morning brought no respite, with Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), and Transport for Wales all still feeling the effects. National Rail, in a statement that practically screams 'we're trying our best,' said trains can now operate but warned of delays until noon because several trains and crew are, in the official jargon, 'in the wrong locations.' Because, of course, that's exactly where you want your trains and crew to be at the start of the day.

Northern Rail, ever the optimist, has advised passengers not to travel before 10am today. TPE, not to be outdone, says to expect disruption before midday, with delays and cancellations on the menu. Greater Manchester, the Midlands, and north-west England bore the brunt, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and wondering why they didn't just stay home.

The offending facility in Manchester is one of 12 operating centres that, back in 2014, Network Rail proudly announced would one day manage the entire British rail network. Ah, ambition. As if that weren't enough, a wartime bomb was discovered near the railway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent on Thursday, because why not add a little historical drama to the proceedings?

Network Rail's north-west route director, Chris Wright, offered the standard 'we're sorry and our engineers worked through the night' speech, noting that most services are now running and that some passengers may still experience disruption. He advised travellers to 'check before they travel,' which is rail-speak for 'we have no idea what's happening either.'

Andy Bowes-Roden, deputy editor at Modern Railways magazine, told BBC Radio 5 Live there would be 'quite a lot of disruption this morning easing throughout the day.' He optimistically predicted that by rush hour things might be back to normal, though he conceded it won't be fully sorted until tomorrow morning. As a consolation, he reminded us that rail passengers have protections and are entitled to refunds. Because nothing says 'we value you' like a partial refund for your wasted day.