Storm Isha may affect your journey in parts of England, Scotland and Wales on Sunday 21 and Monday 22 January

[JonathanH]

The assessment of Storm Isha has been updated and is being seen as serious as a red warning.

The railway in Scotland North of Edinburgh and Glasgow will be shut from 7pm on Sunday.

Caledonian Sleeper say
https://www.sleeper.scot/service-alterations/

Services from London Euston to Aberdeen / Fort William / Inverness

We are sorry to inform you that tomorrow night’s Caledonian Sleeper services from London Euston to Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William have been cancelled. 

With high winds and heavy rain forecast, plus an increased risk of flooding due to snow melting, the Met Office have updated their yellow and amber weather warnings for Sunday and Monday.

Due to the geographic spread of the warnings, these are considered as serious as a red weather warning. Network Rail have advised us that the rail network in Scotland north of Glasgow and Edinburgh will be closed from 7pm on Sunday evening, and unlikely to reopen before Monday afternoon at the earliest.

We strongly advise you not to travel. If travel is essential, you can stay onboard our train in London Euston tomorrow with our crew, as it will remain on the platform overnight. Please arrive by the scheduled departure time of 2115 hours.

If you stay on board, we are working with our industry colleagues LNER/Avanti and Scotrail to enable you travel on their services with your Sleeper ticket, but we must stress that there is a risk that you may not be able to travel further north than Glasgow or Edinburgh.

If you can stay home, please do so. All tickets will be cancelled, and a full refund issued. If you booked directly with us, the refund will be automatically returned to the card you made payment with.

National Rail website not yet updated to make clear what other impacts there will be.

 

[55002]

Looks wild this storm all over country, suspect we will be reading all sorts of reports on this one

 

[Blindtraveler]

Here we go again, stay safe everybody and well done to all those working on roads and rails and airports and ships etc for coping with what's going to be another difficult 48 hours

 

[MikeWM]

This storm has been pretty consistently forecast for the last week, a bit odd that almost no-one seems to have picked up on it until it was almost imminent, as this is likely going to be a nasty one. Almost everywhere in the country is going to get very strong and persistent wind, up to about 70mph gusts or perhaps even more.

I wouldn't expect much of the network to be running at all by late afternoon/evening tomorrow, and disruption is very likely to affect Monday too.

Then we get another storm on Tuesday afternoon, a bit less severe but still likely to be very disruptive.

 

[uvarvu]

GWR have already put up a travel warning with details of speed restrictions imposed by Network Rail. I‘ve moved my tickets, no way I’m travelling tomorrow!

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

Due to forecasted severe weather between London Paddington and Penzance trains have to run at reduced speed.
Impact:
Train services running across the whole Great Western Railway network will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 06:00 22/01.
Customer Advice:
- Storm Isha - Sunday 21/01/2024 - Monday 22/01/2024 -
-
Storm Isha is expected to bring extreme winds across the Great Western Railway network on Sunday evening, reaching up to 70mph in places and continuing into Monday morning.
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These gusts of wind are expected to be observed in South Wales, North Devon, Cornwall and areas surrounding Bristol. Gusts of 50-70mph are also expected in the Sussex / Wessex areas which will have an impact on our Weymouth / Portsmouth lines of route. It is expected that all lines of route on the GWR Network will be subject to disruption as a result of storm Isha.
-
Network Rail have already advised of confirmed speed restrictions on the following routes:
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- 50mph on all lines between Chippenham - Bristol Temple Meads and Slough - Didcot Parkway - effective between 19:00 Sunday 21st January and 05:00 Monday 22nd January.
- 50mph on all lines between Neath - Swansea - effective between 20:00 Sunday 21st January and 03:00 Monday 22nd January.
-
Further restrictions likely to be imposed on-the-day as the storm develops.
-
Customers are advised to travel earlier on Sunday the 21st January. Any customers travelling later on in the day may encounter difficulties completing their journeys. Ticket easements will be in place for those customers who wish to travel earlier on advance purchase tickets.
-
Depending on the severity of the storm, other areas of the network may also be affected until Monday morning. Please check before you travel.

 

[TrainGeekUK]

People trying to get away tonight from Paddington before this storm hits tomorrow are having a few delays this evening.

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Reading and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading.

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

 

[Horizon22]

People trying to get away tonight from Paddington before this storm hits tomorrow are having a few delays this evening.

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Reading and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading.

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 down to a fatality, sadly.

 

[Deepgreen]

The assessment of Storm Isha has been updated and is being seen as serious as a red warning.

The railway in Scotland North of Edinburgh and Glasgow will be shut from 7pm on Sunday.

Caledonian Sleeper say
https://www.sleeper.scot/service-alterations/


National Rail website not yet updated to make clear what other impacts there will be.

So good that the far safer mode of rail gives up, to force travellers onto the perilous roads in these circumstances!

 

[JonathanH]

So good that the far safer mode of rail gives up, to force travellers onto the perilous roads in these circumstances!

I think the idea is that people don't try travelling by road either. Obviously that is harder to implement.

 

[Deepgreen]

The assessment of Storm Isha has been updated and is being seen as serious as a red warning.

The railway in Scotland North of Edinburgh and Glasgow will be shut from 7pm on Sunday.

Caledonian Sleeper say
https://www.sleeper.scot/service-alterations/


National Rail website not yet updated to make clear what other impacts there will be.

There are no red warnings in place on the Met Office site - where did you see them?

I think the idea is that people don't try travelling by road either. Obviously that is harder to implement.

Indeed, but the obvious reality will be that many will still need, or feel the need, to travel and will be on a far more dangerous mode.

 

[JonathanH]

There are no red warnings in place on the Met Office site - where did you see them?

Caledonian Sleeper described the geographic spread of the disruption as meaning the yellow and amber warnings could be "considered as serious as a red weather warning" in the text I quoted in the first post.

 

[InOban]

This storm has been pretty consistently forecast for the last week, a bit odd that almost no-one seems to have picked up on it until it was almost imminent, as this is likely going to be a nasty one. Almost everywhere in the country is going to get very strong and persistent wind, up to about 70mph gusts or perhaps even more.

I wouldn't expect much of the network to be running at all by late afternoon/evening tomorrow, and disruption is very likely to affect Monday too.

Then we get another storm on Tuesday afternoon, a bit less severe but still likely to be very disruptive.

The next one may be less severe down south but the forecast wind speeds up here are even higher.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

So good that the far safer mode of rail gives up, to force travellers onto the perilous roads in these circumstances!

Just like the local buses immediately returned to depot upon arrival of snow last year leaving passengers stranded....

Yes I get it that bus drivers need to get home too but they are supposed to run a public service and put the passengers first

 

[lrailadventure]

Just like the local buses immediately returned to depot upon arrival of snow last year leaving passengers stranded....

Yes I get it that bus drivers need to get home too but they are supposed to run a public service and put the passengers first

If it's not safe to run the service, then it's not safe to run. Why endanger people when it's not worth the risk?

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it's not safe to run the service, then it's not safe to run. Why endanger people when it's not worth the risk?

Because stranding people may endanger them more.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I have a flight from Bristol at 6am; I really hope it isn't cancelled.

 

[duffield]

Looking at the amber wind warning area I guess both the WCML and ECML might be severely disrupted (north of - say - Preston and York respectively).

 

[John Luxton]

This storm has been pretty consistently forecast for the last week, a bit odd that almost no-one seems to have picked up on it until it was almost imminent, as this is likely going to be a nasty one. Almost everywhere in the country is going to get very strong and persistent wind, up to about 70mph gusts or perhaps even more.

I wouldn't expect much of the network to be running at all by late afternoon/evening tomorrow, and disruption is very likely to affect Monday too.

Then we get another storm on Tuesday afternoon, a bit less severe but still likely to be very disruptive.

The main media web sites were just describing wet and windy until yesterday when it was named.

As my interests in transport extend to ships I have for years used XC weather web site which is really very good with wind forecasts. I spotted this blow coming through a the start of the week and realised it would likely be a storm.

Personally I find xc weather more accurate than the Met Office.

Wind Map - Britain Observations

 

[FManc]

Looking at the amber wind warning area I guess both the WCML and ECML might be severely disrupted (north of - say - Preston and York respectively).

I think there’s also talks of a blanket speed restriction between Euston and Rugby tomorrow from 18:00

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Caledonian Sleeper described the geographic spread of the disruption as meaning the yellow and amber warnings could be "considered as serious as a red weather warning" in the text I quoted in the first post.

So are Caledonian saying there is now only one weather warning RED?

 

[lrailadventure]

Because stranding people may endanger them more.

If the company puts out do not travel warnings, and passengers decide to still travel, that's on them for getting stranded.

If someone gets seriously injured or killed as a direct result of the weather conditions (i.e. a service crashes into something), everyone will be quick enough to blame the company for not stopping services sooner .. they cannot win in this situation .

 

[Bletchleyite]

So are Caledonian saying there is now only one weather warning RED?

No, they're saying the effect on them is as per a red because of how much of the country is affected.

 

[londonboi198o5]

I have a flight from Bristol at 6am; I really hope it isn't cancelled.

Giving the storm isn’t until Sunday evening I imagine you will be fine unless flying on Monday.

 

[londonmidland]

Some of the computer models are now showing inland gusts of up to 70mph. I don’t think this is a done deal and wouldn’t be surprised to see further updates from the Met Office.

 

[sheff1]

No, they're saying the effect on them is as per a red because of how much of the country is affected.

They are saying they consider the amber & yellow warnings to be as serious as red. If expected conditions were serious enough to warrant red then the Met Office would issue a red warning, as of now they have not.

 

[Saint66]

Would not be surprised to see blanket speed restrictions and even some early shut-downs on some routes tomorrow evening.

The gust speeds will be high, but what is unusual about this storm is the fact it’s impacting a very wide area and that the peak gusts will be for 4/5/6 hours instead of just an hour or two.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

They are saying they consider the amber & yellow warnings to be as serious as red. If expected conditions were serious enough to warrant red then the Met Office would issue a red warning, as of now they have not.

The industry really ought to have a standard response to the Yellow, Amber & Red warnings for wind and rain. AWC have a Do Not Travel tomorrow LNER say don't travel North of Edinburgh nothing to the South, XC there maybe some disruption please check and TPE have

Due to the forecast given, we’re advising customers to do not travel on the following route after 14:00 on Sunday 21 January:

- Services between Preston and Edinburgh

And do not travel on the following route after 16:00 on Sunday 21 January:

- Services between Preston and Glasgow

yet the Amber Met Office warning covers the whole of Northern England/Scotland. Guess there is an upside as not all operators are taking the warning literally and are being measured on the East side of the UK.

 

[Benjwri]

Because stranding people may endanger them more.

I can’t speak for the specific area mentioned, but at least around me the buses were cancelled when the snow was too bad for them to operate. Buses have to stop operating before cars because of their heavier weights.

People are safer stranded, likely somewhere they can at least
seek shelter, than in a bus accident. Not to mention you are far safer stranded in a building than being stranded in a bus on a road when it gets stuck.

 

[Morayshire]

Meanwhile Scotrail have a blanket speed restriction in force and mass cancellations across their network on Sunday and into Monday going by their Journeycheck page

Scotrail's Journeycheck Page

Have to admit. Missed this one rolling in as the snow this week was more of an issue.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I can’t speak for the specific area mentioned, but at least around me the buses were cancelled when the snow was too bad for them to operate. Buses have to stop operating before cars because of their heavier weights.

People are safer stranded, likely somewhere they can at least
seek shelter, than in a bus accident. Not to mention you are far safer stranded in a building than being stranded in a bus on a road when it gets stuck.

You rather assume there's the option of a building!