Trains cancelled - live: Entire east coast main line closes as heatwave causes rail chaos
Lines north of London have been particularly affected
MikeTyes
As the UK experiences more record-busting temperatures, rail services across the country have been reduced.
Passengers in England and Wales were warned not to travel unless absolutely necessary on Tuesday, as temperatures in parts of the country hit temperatures of 40 Celsius.
Network Rail has raised its warning to travellers urging them not to attempt to travel north from London into the “red zone” where the highest temperatures are expected. The entire East Coast main line has also been closed from Kings Cross, affecting multiple rail operators.
Steel rails are susceptible to buckling during extreme temperatures, meaning some trains will also be ordered to run at slower speeds than normal, typically dropping from 125mph to 90mph or 60mph, with some stretches as slow as 20mph.
TfL has also had a number of delays and line suspensions in place throughout the day due to the heatwave conditions.
Avanti West Coast services halted for rest of Tuesday
Avanti West Coast is telling customers that due to the high temperatures, the rest of today’s trains are cancelled.
“Extreme Heat: All services stopped. Do not come to the station. Due to the extreme heat causing multiple incidents across the network, all Avanti West Coast services have now been withdrawn for the rest of today - Tuesday 19 July,” read the statement posted to its Twitter account.
“Customers with tickets for today can use them tomorrow (20 July) or Thursday (21 July) , or claim a refund.”
Customer service officials are also telling passengers that they may see disruption into Wednesday.
Lucy Thackray19 July 2022 16:00
Simon Calder to answer your travel questions
The mercury is rising - and, with it, the chance that your train will be delayed or cancelled.
Temperatures continue set to soar and potentially hit 40C in the UK, train operators are reducing services to cope with the heat.
Steel rails are susceptible to buckling under extreme temps; some companies will have to run trains at speeds as low as 20mph (instead of the usual 125mph) for safety reasons.
Meanwhile, passengers across certain parts of the country have been told to only travel by train during the heatwave if their journey is strictly necessary, with Transport for London giving the same message to commuters.
So what does it mean for your imminent public transport journeys? And are you still allowed to travel by train?
Our travel expert Simon Calder will be on hand at 4pm to answer as many reader questions as he can in an hour.
Write your questions in the comments box on the article below to get Simon’s expert steer.
Simon Calder to answer your travel questions live as heatwave sees trains cancelled
The Independent’s travel expert is on hand to answer all your holiday queries as temperatures soar
Lucy Thackray19 July 2022 15:36
Why the government’s Jet Zero strategy is an absolute farce
“There’s an exquisite kind of irony in the government releasing its ‘Jet Zero’ strategy, outlining how it will ‘reach net zero aviation and deliver guilt-free flying’, on the same day that the UK is set to hit its highest temperature on record, and with Europe literally burning amid raging wildfires,” writes travel editor Helen Coffey.
“Because amid all the six-point plan’s whizzy-sounding techno fixes like ‘zero emission aircraft’, and the impressive-sounding investment – to the tune of £165m for an Advanced Fuels Fund to develop a domestic Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) industry – the strategy seems to be missing one key word: reduce.”
Read the full story:
Why the government’s Jet Zero strategy for ‘guilt-free flights’ is an absolute farce
The Department for Transport is promising to ‘reach net zero aviation and deliver guilt-free flying’ - but if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, writes Helen Coffey
Helen Coffey19 July 2022 15:03
Rail users post photos of eerily quiet stations
Train fans have taken to social media to post pictures of unusually hushed rail stations amid the heatwave temperatures and transport disruption.
Leonie posted a photo of a deserted Doncaster Station, writing: “It’s never been so quiet at this station.”
Campaigner Figen Murray posted a photo of an empty train carriage, writing: “Just on my way to Manchester to welcome a new group of people doing the ACT training. Roads have not much traffic, station car park almost empty, cool and air conditioned carriage empty!! Not dressed very businesslike today.”
Benjamin Doughty posted video of an empty Manchester Station, writing: “Nearly empty train station is a sight.”
Lucy Thackray19 July 2022 14:09
Spanish passengers horrified as train stops amid wildfires
Train passengers in the Spanish province of Zamora got a shock yesterday when their train ground to a halt as it was surrounded by wildfires.
Passenger Francisco Seoane filmed the scene after his train stopped unexpectedly in the Spanish countryside, revealing leaping wildfires on either side of the track.
“It was really scary to see how quickly the fire spread. Just in the blink of an eye, a new bush began burning. It was a matter of seconds,” the Spaniard told The Associated Press on Monday.
“It suddenly became night,” he said of the darkness created by the plumes of smoke. “And we could even smell the smoke.”
Watch the video here:
Spanish train passengers shocked as train stops in dramatic wildfires
Video shows flames leaping several feet above the treetops in Zamora province
Lucy Thackray19 July 2022 13:55
It will take ‘decades’ to sort out overheating rail infrastructure, says Grant Shapps
It will take “decades” to fix the UK’s crumbling infrastructure for the climate emergency, a cabinet minister has warned, as the country braces for its hottest day ever.
The problems of rail lines buckling, overhead lines sagging and road tarmac melting will be repeated for many, many years to come, Grant Shapps said in a gloomy message to the public.
Asked, on Sky News, if “we are going to have this sort of problem for decades to come”, Mr Shapps replied: “We are. And ditto with things like tarmac on the roads.
“There’s a long process of replacing and upgrading it to withstand temperatures, either very hot or sometimes much colder than we used to – and these are the impacts of global warming.”
The rail network is only able to with stand temperatures of 35C – lower than Spain (45C) and Saudi Arabia (50C) – because heat above 40C “seemed impossible”.
“It has never been imagined that the UK would need it. Clearly we will do in the future,” Mr Shapps said.
‘Decades’ to fix buckling rail lines and melting tarmac for climate crisis - minister
Grant Shapps says rail network only built to withstand 35C – because it was ‘never imagined’ that UK would face higher temperatures
Rob Merrick19 July 2022 12:18
Midnight train to Newcastle takes all night
One train has run between London King’s Cross and Newcastle on the East Coast main line on Tuesday: a delayed Monday evening service.
The 10pm LNER express from the capital to the Tyne eventually departed at one minute past midnight. By the time it reached Doncaster, the train was almost three hours behind schedule.
The next stretch to York – normally timed at around 20 minutes – took twice as long, and by the time it reached Northallerton at 4.07am, the train was 198 minutes adrift.
The 125mph Azuma train finally arrived at Newcastle at 5.27am, three hours 34 minutes behind schedule.
David Horne, managing director of LNER, tweeted: “A late finish for our customers and crew on the 2200 King’s Cross-Newcastle last night – thank you for everyone’s patience and for getting everyone to their destinations safely, most importantly.”
LNER has cancelled all trains linking London with Leeds and York on Tuesday.
Simon Calder19 July 2022 11:32
Is the age of the coach?
While Network Rail urges passengers not to travel on much of the railway network, long-distance coaches are continuing to run largely as normal.
National Express says: “Some of our services may be subject to short notice changes as we continue to monitor and respond to the impact of the extreme heat. This could vary across our network and some journeys may take longer than normal.”
Passengers booked to travel on Tuesday can switch to any day up to 19 October 2022.
Megabus tweeted: “Our services will operate as normal and you can keep up to date on here and by using our coach tracker should there be any service disruptions.”
Some passengers are complaining on social media about the lack of air conditioning.
A National Express coach
(National Express)
Simon Calder19 July 2022 10:56
Rail closures essential, says Shapps
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said he “actually queried very hard” the need to close significant stretches of inter-city lines because of the extreme heat, but was persuaded it was essential.
He told BBC Today: “The rail lines have been built for temperatures around minus 10 to plus 35. No one thought when these things were being [specified] that we would ever see days of 40C in the UK. It just seemed impossible.
“But of course we are starting to see that, and we are upgrading the infrastructure to be able to manage in those more extreme heats.
“We cannot have, of course, a railway line buckling.
“We can’t have a train derailing, of course, which would be catastrophic in consequence. So we have to be responsible with this.”
Simon Calder19 July 2022 10:19
Severe delays on four tube lines as one TfL line suspended
The UK heatwave has prompted a spate of delays on London’s Underground and Overground network, with Transport for London (TfL) currently reporting “Severe delays” on the Bakerloo, Central, District and Metropolitan lines.
The Hammersmith & City line is suspended in its entirety, while the London Overground is suspended between Willesden Junction to Richmond and Romford to Upminster “due to heat related speed restrictions”.
There are also minor delays on the Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, as well as the Piccadilly line and London Trams.
TfL’s current updates
(TfL)
Lucy Thackray19 July 2022 09:59
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