Posted 6th January 2010 | 3 Comments
Many lines in south disrupted, as more snow is forecast
Train services are being disrupted in many parts of Britain on Wednesday morning after heavy snow overnight but most lines are open, although emergency timetables have been introduced by several operators.
The worst affected networks are those of South West Trains, Southern and Southeastern, where many services have been cancelled or reduced, but some other routes also have fewer trains or none at all. Replacement buses are running in some cases.
Other disrupted sections include Chiltern between Stourbridge and Kidderminster, East Midlands Trains between Sheffield and Leeds and First Great Western between Newton Abbot and Paignton. Disruption in Scotland is mainly affecting some lines in Strathclyde, but there are still no trains between Inverness and Aviemore following the freight train derailment at Carrbridge.
Many of the problems reported appear to have been caused by signalling faults triggered by the snow and ice, rather than line blockages or rail conditions.
Southeastern has opened its High Speed services to all ticket holders, suspending the normal premium fares.
Other forms of transport have also been hit by the weather. Many motorists were trapped in their cars as snowstorms swept across Hampshire overnight, and no buses were running in a number of cities, including Liverpool and Nottingham. Several airports closed entirely, and numerous flights were cancelled or delayed at others.
The Met Office is forecasting more snow in central and southern England between now and Friday.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Mrs Alexandra Fuller, Crayford, England
I find it absolutely disgusting that when I have been standing at Caryford Station for over an hour this morning from 6.30 am and at about 7.10 am a train pulls in and the driver has his window down and with a great big grin on his face. He slows down; we are all assuming this is the 07.26 am train which was expected in but never turned up in the end. When he reached the end of the platform he just speeded up and went on his merry way. I find this rather offensive to take treat people (about 150 of us) on a day like this. This was not funny. And just as an aside, you have broken your contract with many passengers today. We pay for a service and you supply. We have paid for a journey weeks and months ago and you have not delivered. If I apply for my money back for this morning and maybe for the next few days I expect to get my money back as you have breached the contract as you have not supplied a service.
John, London
Only Southeastern trains could turn a few cm of snow into a marketing event for their new, costly high speed service. What a joke, running a Sunday service on a Wednesday rush hour!
andrew ganley, cheam, england
And having conductor rails at rail level i.e third rail land doesnt help either,
maybe instead of the headlong rush to get rid of steam/loco hauled trains looks a bit short sighted,no plan b!.
Having signal problems is inexcusable considering the money that is spent
on infrastructure, im just waiting for news of the latest WCML foul-up
I wonder when the penny(or euro) is going to drop when the rail/transport industry realises this sort of weather is here to stay.