Disruption to services - Storm Dudley & Storm Eunice

[bramling]

Some more vicious gusts here in North Herts in the last few minutes. GN now largely at a standstill by the looks of it, though one or two trains are still moving. Be very surprised for any service on the ECML south rest of today to be honest.

 

[Djgr]

Bright sunny and blustery up here in Sheffield and this just popped up on my WhatsApp which kind of sums up the situation nicely

There does feel like a certain karma about today!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Had to pop to Luton for a medical appointment (due to knock-on on other stuff couldn't really rearrange) and it was utterly grim. Surprisingly many lorries out.

A lot calmer back in MK.

 

[LAX54]

Signal map suggesting GEML north of Manningtree and West of Wrabness are blocked. 1N20 to Clacton has be sat at signal London-side of Alresford so there are problems on the Clacton branch. I think that leaves Southend Vic and Colchester to Liverpool Street that's still in operation on GE.

UPDATE: Spoke too soon, Billericay blocked by tree too.

All services suspended on GA to allow NR to remove trees, and attempt to fix various OHL issues, although at Thorpe le Soken, may take longer, pan wrapped around the OHL

 

[6Gman]

Still nothing here in Staffs, even got blue skies!

A few miles north (3 to be exact) of Staffordshire here and it's just starting to pick up here.

But we were always on the northern edge of the amber warning, so if it tracked a little further south than expected we might get off lightly. (Fingers crossed)

 

[ungreat]

Controlled stop PBO- KGX pending confirmation

 

[Techniquest]

Well it got a bit calmer here, but by 12pm it picked up as it said it would. So glad I put the bins out the back! Getting some strong gusts here now, occasionally as I've been reading this thread I've been hearing stuff banging around out the front. Not got up to see what though!

The wind right now reminds me of what it was like when I went to West Sussex in May 2021. That first night the wind was pretty grim, with around 60mph gusts on the first night and around mid-30s the next day.

Those who are complaining they've got nothing, I'd invite you to come here and watch what it looks like. I can't put into words just how glad I am that I haven't had to walk back from work in this sort of weather, it would have been incredibly dangerous. A pavement made of bricks that is in serious need of being re-laid, right along a bridge over the Wye with no real protection against the wind. When it's that strong, it would have been likely to blow me into the road. Which carries the A49, a very busy north to south road!

Oh I am glad to be indoors with an Earl Grey and some cookies right now!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The amount of people complaining of an over-reaction and "how do I get to work" would be in equal numbers. Public transport cannot win in severe weather. In fact nobody can. We have to accept that even as a modern and developed nation and society, sometimes we will have to deal with one-off significant disruption to our way of life. The red weather warning for the Southeast came incredibly late and as such the message had to be changed very late in the day. Weather is by its nature changeable and the rail companies can only adapt accordingly - not to mention trying to make additional service alterations in less than 24 hours is incredibly difficult and will be done ad-hoc by Control, not planners.

And that's why I think the Government should have stepped in and implemented a March 2020 style closure of non-essential business. Far fewer people can feel pressured to go into work then.

It's once in 30 years.

 

[bramling]

And that's why I think the Government should have stepped in and implemented a March 2020 style closure of non-essential business. Far fewer people can feel pressured to go into work then.

It's once in 30 years.

For sure there should have been some proper advice.

I suppose we go from “follow the science” to “follow the Met Office”.

I’d say it’s inevitable the Met Office are going to get some stick for not having the warning out yesterday.

 

[MikeWM]

Some more vicious gusts here in North Herts in the last few minutes. GN now largely at a standstill by the looks of it, though one or two trains are still moving. Be very surprised for any service on the ECML south rest of today to be honest.

Or indeed the WCML, Avanti are now saying on NR 'all services suspended from Euston, this is expected until the end of the day'.

I don't see much of what has now stopped (pretty much everything in the southeast) restarting today.

 

[Horizon22]

GWR have got 4-5 stranded trains at present.

For sure there should have been some proper advice.

I suppose we go from “follow the science” to “follow the Met Office”.

I’d say it’s inevitable the Met Office are going to get some stick for not having the warning out yesterday.

And we also have to accept that weather forecasting is one of the most complex things out there. Weather modelling requires multiple super computers and whilst much more accurate than decades gone by, can never be a perfect science.

 

[silexa]

A few miles north (3 to be exact) of Staffordshire here and it's just starting to pick up here.

But we were always on the northern edge of the amber warning, so if it tracked a little further south than expected we might get off lightly. (Fingers crossed)

It is now slightly raining here!

 

[55002]

Up near Newark today, suns out hardly any wind at minute

 

[Crossover]

The wind sounds to have picked up around Rochdale in the last 15 mins - it was fairly calm when I popped out to another building to collect a delivery but can hear the wind against the office now

 

[bramling]

GWR have got 4-5 stranded trains at present.



And we also have to accept that weather forecasting is one of the most complex things out there. Weather modelling requires multiple super computers and whilst much more accurate than decades gone by, can never be a perfect science.

For sure. But it doesn’t look a good shout when people on a weather forum are screaming that it’s going to be bad, yet no warning comes out, and then it comes out a bit belatedly.

I’m not even thinking about setting out for work until the late afternoon.

The models, to their credit, seem to have been pretty good. But the way this has been communicated to the wider public completely lacking. Let’s hope none of the stranded trains develop into an even more serious situation that they already will be.

 

[jfollows]

The wind sounds to have picked up around Rochdale in the last 15 mins - it was fairly calm when I popped out to another building to collect a delivery but can hear the wind against the office now

Yes, it's finally picking up here in Wilmslow too, still nothing significant but "windy" rather than 'breezy" I'd say.

 

[Beebman]

Video of damage to the roof of the O2 Arena:

 

[ainsworth74]

Just a note to say that for flight disruption there is a dedicated thread found here in the Aviation Discussion section. I noted some comments earlier in this thread regarding that but please use the dedicated thread for flight disruption from now on. Thanks

 

[40129]

Here in North Cheshire, it was surprisingly calm and sunny this morning. However, it's got cloudier and rainier during the past 2 hours and the wind is starting to pick up significantly as I type this

 

[Fokx]

TPE cancelling services left right and centre due to 'extreme weather' which in West Yorkshire is just heavy rain and a light breeze, which is now turning to blue sky and no rain. Nothing going west to east for well over an hour from Huddersfield until the 7.17 to Newcastle.

They are unadvertised pre-planned cancellations.

Suspension was planned from atleast 7pm last night to ensure that units and traincrew do not end up stranded.

 

[Domh245]

For sure. But it doesn’t look a good shout when people on a weather forum are screaming that it’s going to be bad, yet no warning comes out, and then it comes out a bit belatedly.

In fairness, weather forum-ers don't have to worry about the public and can "cry wolf" without fear of the public. Public weather forecasting is as much Public Relations & expectation management as it is weather system modelling. No point issuing a red warning for a severe but unlikely weather event as you then just reduce trust in future forecasts.

And whilst they could have issued the red warning sooner, issuing at (eg) 3AM rather than 4AM wouldn't have changed much for most people, they would have had to make a brave & uncertain call last night if they wanted to have maximum impact on stopping people setting off this morning. Doesn't help when it did seem relatively calm as well this morning, spent the first couple of hours at work wondering if I'd done the right thing crying off my visit, but very glad now!

 

[Sleepy]

Signal map suggesting GEML north of Manningtree and West of Wrabness are blocked. 1N20 to Clacton has be sat at signal London-side of Alresford so there are problems on the Clacton branch. I think that leaves Southend Vic and Colchester to Liverpool Street that's still in operation on GE.

UPDATE: Spoke too soon, Billericay blocked by tree too.

Everything GA stopped over hour ago, at Thorpe-le-Soken 2 trains stuck in the knitting 1 minus it's pan, trampoline on the overheads Stratford, trees down Bury St Edmunds, Forest Gate etc. etc

 

[DelW]

For sure. But it doesn’t look a good shout when people on a weather forum are screaming that it’s going to be bad, yet no warning comes out, and then it comes out a bit belatedly.

I’m not even thinking about setting out for work until the late afternoon.

The models, to their credit, seem to have been pretty good. But the way this has been communicated to the wider public completely lacking. Let’s hope none of the stranded trains develop into an even more serious situation that they already will be.

The Met Office and BBC (among others) have been issuing warnings about this storm at least as far back as last Sunday. It may only have been upgraded to red for the south-east in the early hours of this morning, but warnings have been widely reported for several days.

 

[bramling]

The Met Office and BBC (among others) have been issuing warnings about this storm at least as far back as last Sunday. It may only have been upgraded to red for the south-east in the early hours of this morning, but warnings have been widely reported for several days.

The problem isn’t so much for forecasting, but the way this has been communicated to the wider populace. It has caught a lot of people out. That is bound to have resulted in some avoidable damage and disruption (for example objects not being secured). Thankfully I haven’t seen any reports of injuries / loss of life thusfar, let’s hope it stays that way.

 

[jfollows]

London Euston now closed (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...es-millions-to-stay-indoors-live-news-updates).

 

[L401CJF]

TfW appear to be running a limited service between Chester and Liverpool, Chester and Manchester Airport.

Merseyrail are running all lines with no delays, bar West Kirby line where replacement bus is on between Birkenhead North and West Kirby due to an obstruction.

 

[urpert]

It’s been pretty bad in SE London since about 11:30. Some quite substantial trees have come down (one by Beckenham Hill station that nearly blocked the road completely).

 

[Crossover]

TfW appear to be running a limited service between Chester and Liverpool, Chester and Manchester Airport.

Merseyrail are running all lines with no delays, bar West Kirby line where replacement bus is on between Birkenhead North and West Kirby due to an obstruction.

There is a train at Leasowe now heading to West Kirby and on time

 

[Saint66]

SWR network suspended until 6pm at least.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

The problem isn’t so much for forecasting, but the way this has been communicated to the wider populace. It has caught a lot of people out. That is bound to have resulted in some avoidable damage and disruption (for example objects not being secured). Thankfully I haven’t seen any reports of injuries / loss of life thusfar, let’s hope it stays that way.

Its been all over mainstream news all week, how much notice do people need?

We've done onboard train announcements during the last 2 days to warn not to travel too, but I get that that would be more hit and miss.

The last notice given (apart from the shutting down of London stations) was at 4am today, so only people who left for work before then could possibly say they weren't aware it would affect them, and only in the South East as they were maybe not expecting it to be as severe as it turned out to be.