OREANDA-NEWS. Rail passengers on routes into Birmingham New Street are being advised not to travel by train this morning unless absolutely necessary following a serious problem with the signalling system.

An ongoing failure of the power supply to the signals, which control the safe movement of trains, means trains cannot get in or out of the south end of the station.

London Midland is advising its passengers not to travel by train this morning and other affected operators include Virgin Trains, Arriva Trains Wales and Arriva Cross Country.

Passengers travelling on other routes through Birmingham are also advised to check before they travel as trains and stations are likely to be very busy.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Our engineers have been working to fix the problem at Proof House Junction, south of Birmingham New Street, since 4am, however they have not been able to restore the power supply. This will lead to severe delays and cancellations across the city as operators cannot run in or out of the south end of Birmingham New Street.

"I strongly advise passengers to check before they travel this morning and consider if they can find an alternative route to work as disruption is likely to continue for some time.

“We are very sorry for this disruption and a difficult start to the week, and our crews are working as hard as they can to fix the problem.”

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.6bn journeys by rail every year - double the number of 1996 - and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We're investing £40bn in the railway by 2019 through our Railway Upgrade Plan to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.