Severe weather Saturday 7th October, some ScotRail services suspended.

[dk1]

Just come through Kings Cross, and there appears to be nothing going north of Newcastle. Lovely sunny warm day in London, but looking at the rain radar I think the caution may appropriate.

13:30 is the next direct Edinburgh via the Tyne Valley.

 

[Huntergreed]

13:30 is the next direct Edinburgh via the Tyne Valley.

LNER aren’t running any further North than Newcastle so this service will terminate at Newcastle

 

[dk1]

LNER aren’t running any further North than Newcastle so this service will terminate at Newcastle

Fair enough.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Just come through Kings Cross, and there appears to be nothing going north of Newcastle.

Engineering works for East Coast rail journeys today between Newcastle and Edinburgh (via Morpeth/Berwick) been planned for weeks, I believe.

 

[68000]

People need to realise that Network Rail have employed weather forecasting experts together with improved forecasting tools since Carmont and they are in Integrated Control at WSSC. They have much better data than anyone sitting at home typing onto this website.

 

[realemil]

Not railway, but a little south from Glasgow at Rutherglen, you can see the flooding taking place: https://reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/IsyH20sMnL

I’m currently in a bus going into the city centre and since waking up (7ish) it has been pouring and I don’t think I’ve ever seen rain this bad. It’s been a very constant heavy pouring of rain.

The right decision was made by networkrail to shut the lines.

 

[aaronspence]

It's basically just light rain here in Fife but even the Edinburgh to Dundee services are mostly cancelled. Very strange decision.

I can only assume it's worse at the Edinburgh end of the line then.

 

[Failed Unit]

Engineering works for East Coast rail journeys today between Newcastle and Edinburgh (via Morpeth/Berwick) been planned for weeks, I believe.

I did wonder why LNER wasn’t running as non of the forecast had shown anything to put the ECML at risk.

 

[InOban]

Sounds dreadful. Presume the alternative routes out of Oban (the A816/A83 to Lochgilphead/Inveraray and the A828 to Ballachulish/Fort Bill) are also "no go" today?

There's a landslip just after Inverary, before the Rest and Be Thankful and theres flooding at Barcaldine.

 

[Taunton]

Not railway, but a little south from Glasgow at Rutherglen, you can see the flooding taking place: https://reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/IsyH20sMnL


The right decision was made by networkrail to shut the lines.

If you read down a bit from that link you find in the comments:

"I've complained about this specific bit several times to councillors, MSPs and MPs as there is regular flooding on the right of this video ...".

Strangely when I was living in Glasgow in the 1970s exactly the same road was subjected to flooding then, one of the guys in the office lived nearby. Looks like nothing done since.

 

[Buzby]

There's a landslip just after Inverary, before the Rest and Be Thankful and theres flooding at Barcaldine.

Not surprise, I came that way last night and the main RBT road was shut but the old road took the strain with a pilot vehicle - added about an hour to the journey.

 

[snookertam]

I have to hold my hands up and withdraw my earlier criticism of the decision to close certain routes. The conditions in the West of Scotland today are awful. Never seen flooding like it. NR clearly knew what was coming and fair play to them for making the call relatively early, instead of attempting to run and ending up with people stranded.

 

[NoOldEngine]

It seems that a severe weather warning has prompted Network Rail to suspend all services north of Perth on the HML tomorrow, and the northbound sleeper 1S25 has been cancelled out of Euston as a result. WHL services also suspended. That will be Flying Scotsman's trip to Edinburgh scuppered, also the Midland Pullman HST to Fort William.

Must be a hell of a storm coming in.

1S25 Cali Sleeper did run, but it went via Dundee and Aberdeen to Inverness. Arrived at 12pm some 1 hour later than expected. Had 66740 and 73968 attached at Edinburgh replacing 92023.

 

[43096]

1S25 Cali Sleeper did run, but it went via Dundee and Aberdeen to Inverness. Arrived at 12pm some 1 hour later than expected. Had 66740 and 73968 attached at Edinburgh replacing 92023.

Interesting that it is the service hauled and crewed by a company that is a full commercial operation that is the one that runs. Whereas the public sector supported TOCs give up at the earliest opportunity - no commercial imperative to operate as they will get refunded by Government regardless.

 

[delt1c]

You have to live in Scotland to appreciate the level of this rain. The Ground is waterlogged with no where for the water to go , so Network Rail did the correct thing. I have just gone out to my garage and water is seeping through the floor something that has never happened before.

 

[The Puddock]

It's basically just light rain here in Fife but even the Edinburgh to Dundee services are mostly cancelled. Very strange decision.

The service has been reduced because of the impact of the blanket 40mph speed restriction on the timetable. The service didn't have sufficient turnaround time at either end so without reducing the frequency they would just keep getting significantly later and later all day.

 

[Huntergreed]

Anyone know which routes are blanket 40 ESR?

I caught the train south from Dumfries this morning and it definitely wasn’t!

 

[yorksrob]

Regardless of the atrocious weather in Scotland, I think that Avanti's decision not to run anything North of Preston needs to be reviewed.

 

[Huntergreed]

Regardless of the atrocious weather in Scotland, I think that Avanti's decision not to run anything North of Preston needs to be reviewed.

It’s a worryingly regular decision they make.

I understand the operational difficulties, but they need a contingency plan to stop the northern half of their route grinding to a halt every couple of weeks.

 

[yorksrob]

It’s a worryingly regular decision they make.

I understand the operational difficulties, but they need a contingency plan to stop the northern half of their route grinding to a halt every couple of weeks.

Indeed. A previous poster mentioned saturated ground between Preston and Lancaster as a contributing factor. That shouldn't really be enough to stop the show where severe rain isn't expected.

Better for the trains to run at caution through the affected area if need be.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

It’s a worryingly regular decision they make.

I understand the operational difficulties, but they need a contingency plan to stop the northern half of their route grinding to a halt every couple of weeks.

Drop a line to Rishi and Co, they’ll add ‘reopening Preston to Carlisle’ to the Network North programme…

 

[Morayshire]

Anyone know which routes are blanket 40 ESR?

I caught the train south from Dumfries this morning and it definitely wasn’t!

Aberdeen - Dundee certainly was running under a speed restriction this morning. Lots of time to look out at flooded fields. Least the catering trollrey was on board and in use

 

[JamieL]

Drop a line to Rishi and Co, they’ll add ‘reopening Preston to Carlisle’ to the Network North programme…

...or move Carlisle on the map to Preston.

 

[glasgowniteowl]

A few photos have already been posted from Bowling, here's a video of it

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0hSxTWsfFb3GMbyaxhfD11ZfwxJ1potxJvx5KJPVAdcHeg6Fui4r8soEZNwtdU3GRl&id=100064480008321

 

[trei2k]

It looks like the pumps at Dalmuir are overwhelmed:

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailSCOT/status/1710641120286233019

Here’s the state of play at Dalmuir Twin Tunnels. As you can see, the water level is massive – it’s up to around the window level on a train. The fixed pumps here have been completely overwhelmed by the extreme rainfall. It'll take time for this to clear once the rain stops.

 

[30907]

Regardless of the atrocious weather in Scotland, I think that Avanti's decision not to run anything North of Preston needs to be reviewed.

Agreed. It is one of the issues of having no Avanti traincrew based at Carlisle (do TPE?)

And they have, with a 2-hourly GLC-PRE shuttle, and no speed restrictions south of Beattock it seems. Plus a fair number of TPEs.

But Northern Lancs/Cumbria/the Yorkshire Pennines have had plenty of heavy rain and floods in the last couple of days, even if we haven't really noticed it further East, so I can understand caution.

 

[InkyScrolls]

But Northern Lancs/Cumbria/the Yorkshire Pennines have had plenty of heavy rain and floods in the last couple of days, even if we haven't really noticed it further East, so I can understand caution.

We certainly have. Not on the scale as Scotland is currently receiving but enough for significant localised flooding (though not of railway lines that I'm aware of).

 

[yorksrob]

Agreed. It is one of the issues of having no Avanti traincrew based at Carlisle (do TPE?)

And they have, with a 2-hourly GLC-PRE shuttle, and no speed restrictions south of Beattock it seems. Plus a fair number of TPEs.

But Northern Lancs/Cumbria/the Yorkshire Pennines have had plenty of heavy rain and floods in the last couple of days, even if we haven't really noticed it further East, so I can understand caution.

Are they running a shuttle ? If so that's good. Did see one go by at Lancaster just now, but the departure board seemed to be full of cancellations.

 

[Carlisle]

Agreed. It is one of the issues of having no Avanti traincrew based at Carlisle (do TPE?)

No, Preston & Glasgow as far as I’m aware.

 

[Huntergreed]

TPE do not have a crew based at Carlisle but they do normally change crew at Carlisle, making it operationally much easier for them to operate there if something happens further north.