Rail passengers may be unable to open train tickets sent to their email inboxes as the global Microsoft outage continues, National Rail has warned.
Customers who bought tickets through their email may find they cannot access them, because the outage has hit Outlook and other Microsoft services. The problem was first reported on Thursday, and was still affecting passengers on Friday.
National Rail has advised affected passengers to log into the website or app where they bought their tickets, using the account linked to the purchase, and to try to retrieve their tickets before travelling.
That may not be possible for everyone. Passengers who bought tickets as a guest, without creating an account, may have no other way to get to their booking. In those cases, National Rail says they should contact the ticket retailer directly.
Anyone still unable to find their ticket should ask station staff or onboard staff for advice. Staff can advise on the day, but passengers are urged to try to sort the problem out before they travel where they can.
The outage has disrupted Outlook, Teams and Copilot for businesses and public bodies around the world. Microsoft has said it is not a cyber-security incident, and has blamed server problems. The company said it was seeing signs of stabilisation after applying fixes, but has given no time for a full recovery.
London workers have already been locked out of Outlook and Teams for more than 10 hours, and the disruption comes on a day when Southern services between London Bridge and Epsom are also revised because of a broken rail.
Passengers should check their tickets before setting off, and allow extra time at the station if they need help from staff.
