If you follow Scotrail on twitter, or some of the NWR MOMs in Scotland, you would see the multitude of blockages on the line caused by the storm, Trees, sheds, a greenhouse and many more objects.
So recover them and reopen the network. Follow this up with investment to ensure resilience, given the frequency of these events (and expected increase in frequency into the future). Needless to say there's things you can't mitigate but that's precisely why NR employs the likes of MOMs.
A ESR would not stop a train hitting one of those? So you suggest letting trains run on the lines instead with an ESR? Instead of the steady shut down of services last night?
You may find it hard to believe, but yes I do - as the rest of the UK network did, with very similar weather conditions and with the vast majority of services completing their journey without event.
How would an ESR of helped at Glasgow Queen street where a wall was in danger of collapsing onto the lines?
An ESR likely wouldn't have had any impact on the wall at all, but why should a wall in danger of collapse at Queen Street stop a train in Aviemore?
Your argument is essentially if there is flooding in Liverpool, we should stop trains in Leicester.
It’s all well and good for people who don’t have to make these safety decisions to sit here and criticise, and yes, on certain lines Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I'd argue the job of the railways is to deliver a service, not suspended it because weather. We have various ways to mitigate risk across the industry without resorting to stopping everything.
I say this speaking as the guy who's face would meet said fence/trampoline/wall before anyone else on the train.
But last night I thing they actually made a very sensible decision to do what they did.
Really? How many lines of route did you have closed at any one time? Unless the answer is, essentially, all of them - then a ceasing of services was unnecessary.
We routinely work around weather events as an industry. If you speak as a controller or planner and feel these events pose an unbearable workload on your grade, perhaps the answer is to re-assess your procedures and staffing levels. Sensible things that I've personally been involved with in the past include stepping up managers to support the control functions when bad weather is expected and to mobilise additional standby transport options. This isn't me talking about the "good old days", this is within the last decade.
Network Rail tell the train operators that the infrastructure is not safe until the storm passes and the lines are checked
Yes but as pointed out by others, there's management overlap and ongoing communication between operator and infrastructure manager.