Trains back after power surge

The incident caused disruption to commuters.

Rail services in the West Midlands are returning to normal after a power surge caused chaos for passengers at Birmingham New Street station.

Passengers faced major delays for several hours after the surge caused a power failure and disrupted signals just after 1330 BST on Friday.

Thousands of homes were briefly affected and some city centre shops had to move customers out when their lights failed.

An investigation has been launched into the incident.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said on Friday: "It affected the whole of Birmingham. Shops like Rackhams had to throw everyone out because they had no lights.

"There was a fluctuation that knocked out quite a lot of our equipment including the signalling which is the most important aspect.

"There will be serious delays before we get back on track. It's going to take time to get everything back to normal again.

"The timetable is out the window. It's a massive undertaking."

Electricity supplier Aquila said about 220,000 of its customers in Coventry and Warwickshire were momentarily affected by a dip in voltage at about 1330 BST on Friday.