Storm Franklin - Further weather disruption possible

[londonmidland]

(A new & separate thread from Storm Eunice, to prevent members getting confused and messages lost)

Just an advanced warning that there could be further disruption tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday.

Weather models are picking up on a squall line travelling in a NW>SE direction, spanning across the country. From around 13:00-19:00 (give or take) it’ll be active and heading down the country. This is for tomorrow.

Additional warnings are for flooding caused by heavy and persistent rain (particularly in parts of the North and South Wales) as well as strong winds and gusts. 50-60mph quite widely with 70mph possible in a few places.

Given the recent storm damage and saturated ground, it won’t take much for further trees to be uprooted.

Predicted wind gusts in association with the squall line for tomorrow.

Below shows the predicted wind gusts at around 17:00. Note the 60+ mph gusts in the Midlands at this time. This is where the squall line will roughly be positioned during this time of the day.



Predicted wind gusts for Monday morning rush hour, at 08:00.



A thread by Network Rail Scotland can be found here regarding alterations and changes to services.

 

[Techniquest]

Oh boy that looks like so much fun (not!) and I'm glad I didn't book any tickets to go on a railway trip this week coming after all! I had been going to book them a good few days ago, another indoors week coming up then. Joyful times

Those maps do not make nice viewing, but thank you for sharing them!

 

[londonmidland]

Oh boy that looks like so much fun (not!) and I'm glad I didn't book any tickets to go on a railway trip this week coming after all! I had been going to book them a good few days ago, another indoors week coming up then. Joyful times

Those maps do not make nice viewing, but thank you for sharing them!

Tomorrow evening is looking particularly nasty. A squall line passing though (notice the dark red line spanning across the country) followed by heavy showers behind.

 

[nw1]

Remember one of these in January 2014. Barely lasted 5 minutes and didn't seem that severe (certainly less than yesterday), despite being very blowy. Yet it blocked many lines in southern England that evening. Mostly tree branches I think.

This looks nastier though; the Jan 2014 event produced about 5 minutes of rain (with the rest of the day completely dry), while this thing looks more like it might produce several hours' worth.

 

[londonmidland]

Info for anyone travelling on the Great Western Railway route tomorrow:

From National Rail Enquiries:

“⚠️#UKWeather - A 50 mph speed restriction will be in place across the Whole Great Western Railway network throughout Sunday. As a result a reduced service will be running with late notice delays and cancelations.”

 

[Kite159]

Gonna be fun trying to get home tomorrow afternoon I reckon

 

[londonmidland]

Rotherham Central will be closed all day tomorrow due to ‘severe weather’. Rail replacement bus will be in operation between here and Meadowhall.

I assume there’s the risk of its low lying location being flooded again?

 

[Ken H]

Met office forecasting 60mph plus gusts in the small hours tomorrow. Is there no end to this dreadful weather?

 

[syorksdeano]

Rotherham Central will be closed all day tomorrow due to ‘severe weather’. Rail replacement bus will be in operation between here and Meadowhall.

I assume there’s the risk of its low lying location being flooded again?

Tram train not running until Tuesday morning due to expected flooding

 

[Jturner98]

Anyone know why there is no service between Redhill and Tonbridge? Is there a tree on the line?

 

[MP393]

Anyone know why there is no service between Redhill and Tonbridge? Is there a tree on the line?

Yes, between Edenbridge & Penhurst according to the OTT Map which has “TREE” in the berths between these stations

 

[rg177]

Well I'm flying into Luton this afternoon and I'm booked on the 18:37 GC from King's Cross to Doncaster then whatever feels like turning up to Sheffield...

Fingers crossed I escape this as well as I did Eunice on Friday morning...

 

[Bantamzen]

We've just been given a severe flood warning on our stretch of the river Aire. That will likely cause issues along the Aire & Wharfe routes.

 

[popeter45]

Trying to get back to the UK tonight and has NJ402 booked for weeks and no idea if it will be running tonight

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Trying to get back to the UK tonight and has NJ402 booked for weeks and no idea if it will be running tonight

What's that mate? The Amsterdam-Zurich sleeper train?

 

[londonmidland]

The Met Office has now named this deep area of low pressure Storm Franklin.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Has been blowing a fair gale here in Ayrshire. I'm in college tomorrow and I'm expecting disruption as I use the train to Ayr.

 

[sonic2009]

What's that mate? The Amsterdam-Zurich sleeper train?

Yes, given a search of google the OP has previously asked about this sleeper :

seated on a sleeper as part of a wider journey

so need some advice on this on the return of a Amsterdam to Copenhagen trip next year as Osnabruck is closed for what i can assume is engineering works my return leg includes a leg on IC 60402 that seems to be the upcomming NJ 402 Zurich to Amsterdam that i will end up getting on at Cologne for...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[infobleep]

I see that the 8 am Shalford to Gatwick Airport was terminated short at Redhill owe to it being 53 minutes late due to an objection on the track.

Would I be right in thinking that obstruction will have occurred after they had cleared the other obstructions?

I note the buses between Guildford and Shalford haven't been cancelled, even though some of the hourly train services either side have.

The Great Western Railway Web Site says this:

Due to an obstruction on the track between Reading and Redhill all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice:
A number of fallen trees are blocking the line between Reading and Redhill.
We're sorry for the continued disruption to our services. Our teams are working hard to get trains running safely again as soon as possible.

Live Train Times and Journey Updates | Great Western Railway

See the Great Western Railway TrainTracker for live departure times and up-to-the-minute train journey updates.

www.gwr.com

That is the same as they had up yesterday so I don't think they have updated their advice, despite today trying to run trains to Gatwick Airport and not just Redhill and the service being split in 2 by a rail replacement bus.

 

[al78]

Met office forecasting 60mph plus gusts in the small hours tomorrow. Is there no end to this dreadful weather?

Sorry it is my fault. I signed up to do a charity walk/cycle/swim 100 km in February challenge, and I decided to do it on foot. I work Mon-Thu and missed the first weekend due to a family occasion. Of course, once I start to tackle it, both subsequent weekends are hit with poor weather with much better weather when I am at work, and the engineering work every weekend this month makes it harder to use trains to walk linear sections of the South Downs way. With the weather against me and the rail network against me it is certainly turning out to be a challenge. Still 69km to go with only one long weekend remaining.

 

[infobleep]

Yes, between Edenbridge & Penhurst according to the OTT Map which has “TREE” in the berths between these stations

Interesting site that one.

I note it doesn't cover every part of Great Britain and jn particular can't see what is going on between North Camp and Wokingham.

 

[dk1]

Looks like 745002 is finally heading home to Crown Point after being stranded at Shenfield since Friday. Its caused some delays due to occupying a platform. Correction, it’s only going as far as Colchester UPL for now.

 

[aar0]

Info for anyone travelling on the Great Western Railway route tomorrow:

From National Rail Enquiries:

“⚠️#UKWeather - A 50 mph speed restriction will be in place across the Whole Great Western Railway network throughout Sunday. As a result a reduced service will be running with late notice delays and cancelations.”

I’m not sure I believe them (again), I’m looking at the trains from Swansea to London and they’ve lost ~10 minutes between Swansea and Newport, which suggests they’ve been doing more than 50.

Separately, both the trains from Swansea to London have stopped at Bristol Parkway, one cancelled there (“unknown reason”), one marked on RTT as having left the station but no update for an hour now.

 

[Mag_seven]

I’m not sure I believe them (again), I’m looking at the trains from Swansea to London and they’ve lost ~10 minutes between Swansea and Newport, which suggests they’ve been doing more than 50.

Possibly because Wales is a different NR route?

As an aside I hope this does not mean that a 50mph speed restriction is going to be imposed every time we have a yellow warning?

(recognising that this yellow warning immediately follows an amber one)

 

[Magdalia]

Looks like 745002 is finally heading home to Crown Point after being stranded at Shenfield since Friday. Its caused some delays due to occupying a platform. Correction, it’s only going as far as Colchester UPL for now.

There has also been a class 745 stranded at Stansted Airport since Friday which ran to Cambridge this morning.

 

[aar0]

Possibly because Wales is a different NR route?

That’s a good point… but they could therefore have been clearer in their message. Wales and Borders Network Rail Twitter says they’ve had to clear 75 trees from the South Wales main line this morning.

 

[infobleep]

That’s a good point… but they could therefore have been clearer in their message. Wales and Borders Network Rail Twitter says they’ve had to clear 75 trees from the South Wales main line this morning.

I've noticed kn the Great Western Railway disruption page the latest update time is always the latest time rather than the time they last posted an update.

Still, it makes people think the information is up to date, like the fact they are still saying cancellation of services on the Reading to Redhill line.

Incidentally, I've noticed it is only 1 train every two hours today from Shalford to Redhill. The bus is still hourly between Guildford and Shalford though.

One can argue someone might want to travel to Shalford. Of course, one could have made that argument yesterday when SWR decided to cancel all tail replacements between Guildford and Petersfield.

Is the 2 hourly service due to a unit being trapped on the Reading to Guildford side of the blockade? Shame they weren't able to live a train to the Shalford side of the blockade.

 

[GB]

I’m not sure I believe them (again), I’m looking at the trains from Swansea to London and they’ve lost ~10 minutes between Swansea and Newport, which suggests they’ve been doing more than 50.

Separately, both the trains from Swansea to London have stopped at Bristol Parkway, one cancelled there (“unknown reason”), one marked on RTT as having left the station but no update for an hour now.

How much time do you expect them to lose between Swansea and Newport? How much padding was already in the timetable and what is the average line speed of the route normally?

 

[EAD]

Yes, given a search of google the OP has previously asked about this sleeper :

seated on a sleeper as part of a wider journey

so need some advice on this on the return of a Amsterdam to Copenhagen trip next year as Osnabruck is closed for what i can assume is engineering works my return leg includes a leg on IC 60402 that seems to be the upcomming NJ 402 Zurich to Amsterdam that i will end up getting on at Cologne for...

www.railforums.co.uk

Appreciate going OT a little here, but NJ402 is Zürich HB - Amsterdam CS. It is shown as running along with NJ403 the other way. Other NJ trips to Northern Germany/Netherlands/Belgium are cancelled tonight though given there is damage in Germany thanks to Eunice/Zeynep that passed through on Saturday and a period of more wind issues is forecast into Monday. NJ402/3 currently also shown to run tonight by DB though, but worth watching this space.

 

[aar0]

How much time do you expect them to lose between Swansea and Newport? How much padding was already in the timetable and what is the average line speed of the route normally?

I’m not an expert in this, but the trains are timed for 2hr 50 to London, which is their usual time during the week. Much of the line is 75-90mph and while Port Talbot to Swansea feels slow normally, the rest of the route often feels like we are doing 90mph. When I took a train after storm Dennis we were limited to 40mph and it took 3 hours to get to Cardiff.