Storm Claudia - Travel disruption (14/11)

[londonmidland]

Train Operating Companies are now currently rolling out last-minute alterations for train services tomorrow ahead of Storm Claudia, which will bring strong winds and copious amounts of rain - particularly over parts of South Wales, the Home Counties, the Midlands and the North West. 40-60mm of rain is expected widely here.

Here's what is known now, at the time of this post:

The Hope Valley (Sheffield to Manchester/Liverpool)

East Midlands Railway:

No services running from Sheffield to Liverpool after 1045 and no services Liverpool to Sheffield after 1300.

TransPennine Express:

Cleethorpes to Liverpool Lime Street will only run between Cleethorpes and Manchester Piccadilly – two hourly.

Avanti West Coast:

Reduced service - details TBC

 

[Chris172]

West midlands trains

WMR

Cross city reduced to every 30 mins just Bromsgrove to Lichfield TV running, no services to Redditch

Hereford to New St running between Worcester and New St only. No trains between Hereford and Worcester

LNR

After 1300

Running between New Street and Crewe only
No services between Liverpool and Crewe

 

[Calderdale Ian]

Northern's journey checker shows disruption expected on Friday 14th around Halifax , many of the Halifax to Hull services only running east of Bradford : No mention so far of a reduced Calder Valley service ; perhaps being worked on ....

Train services between Hull and Halifax will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes.
Customer Advice
Heavy rain and winds are expected on Friday 14th November and Saturday 15th November. A number of yellow weather warnings for wind are in place.

Flooding is expected in places, and strong winds may bring down trees onto the railway.

Our advice to customers is to travel only if it is essential on a number of routes.

Our advice to our customers:
Services on this route will be severely disrupted in both directions due to forecasted severe weather.

Effect on service:
On Friday 14/11/2025 some services will terminate and restart at Bradford Interchange. There will be a reduced number of trains calling at Low Moor and Halifax.

Alternative travel suggestions:
We strongly advise you to avoid travelling if you can

 

[philosopher]

Train Operating Companies are now currently rolling out last-minute alterations for train services tomorrow ahead of Storm Claudia, which will bring strong winds and copious amounts of rain - particularly over parts of South Wales, the Home Counties, the Midlands and the North West. 40-60mm of rain is expected widely here.

Here's what is known now, at the time of this post:

The Hope Valley (Sheffield to Manchester/Liverpool)

East Midlands Railway:


TransPennine Express:


Avanti West Coast:

The location of the heaviest forecast rain does seem to be perfectly placed to significantly impact key north south rail routes. The West Coast, Midland and East Coast Mainlines all have significant stretches of track through the amber warning area. I suspect it is going to be a difficult few days for the rail network.

 

[londonmidland]

Avanti are pushing out alterations internally. No doubt these will be pushed out publicly as soon as these alterations have been finalised. Needless to say, the Friday afternoon/evening rush hour period looks to be heavily impacted.

 

[warwickshire]

Chiltern Railways hourly service
1. Birmingham Moor Street to London
2. Oxford to London
3. Aylesbury via met and via High Wycombe hourly services.

Also Stourbridge junction to Birmingham Moor Street and onwards to London Marleybone particulary the mk3 services,
and the Leamington Spa to Stratford upon avon, branch line services are fully suspended.

Not looking at all great either for weather in my part of Warwickshire tommorow as its 100 per cent chance of heavy rain during the best part of tommorow and is in the centre of the Amber warning.

So if after a ride on a mk3 or expect to see a class 68 dont bother they have been grounded for the day.

 

[father_jack]

WMR not running west of Worcester. I wonder have they enough crew anyway

All trains on major route cancelled due to 'safety of passengers'

All trains on a busy rail route are to be cancelled tomorrow, with no rail replacement buses available.

www.herefordtimes.com

Hereford to Worcester trains cancelled due to Storm Claudia
2 hrs ago



All trains on major route cancelled due to 'safety of passengers'


Trains running between Hereford and Worcester have been cancelled by the operator for tomorrow to "ensure the safety of passengers".

ALL trains on a busy rail route are to be cancelled tomorrow, with no rail replacement buses available.


West Midlands Railway have announced that no trains will run between Hereford and Worcester Foregate Street tomorrow (Friday, November 14).

The cancellation notice said: "There are no West Midlands Railway trains running to / from Hereford today to ensure the safety of passengers.

"You will not be able to travel between Hereford and Worcester. No replacement buses will be provided."

The announcement comes as an amber weather warning is issued by the Met Office for Herefordshire, with Storm Claudia set to bring heavy rain and a possibility of disruption.

 

[Sorcerer]

Avanti are pushing out alterations internally. No doubt these will be pushed out publicly as soon as these alterations have been finalised. Needless to say, the Friday afternoon/evening rush hour period looks to be heavily impacted.

The Liverpool service looks to have been reduced so that only those on the xx:43 workings will run since some of the xx:07 trains have been cancelled. It's thrown a spanner in the works for me though because while my outward train runs as normal, my return that was booked to be an eleven-coach Pendolino has been cancelled, and the only trains I can use now are seven-coach Everos.

To make matters worse I booked to travel First Class, so if I travel earlier I don't get the meal I paid for in the price of the ticket, and if I travel later I risk being forced to sit elsewhere because my reservations have been lost since the first class seating has also now been halved. I'm just hoping Avanti are prepared to diagram an eleven-coach Pendolino last minute to at least provide extra capacity. Curse you Storm Claudia!

 

[Ridercross]

West midlands trains

WMR

Cross city reduced to every 30 mins just Bromsgrove to Lichfield TV running, no services to Redditch

Hereford to New St running between Worcester and New St only. No trains between Hereford and Worcester

LNR

After 1300

Running between New Street and Crewe only
No services between Liverpool and Crewe

Seems strange to run the Cross City to Bromsgrove instead of Redditch. This means that Redditch and Alvechurch will have no service at all whilst Bromsgrove will have it's usual 3 tph with the Worcester trains too. I can't imagine the weather will be that different a few miles different.

Unless it's Network Rail guidance that they will give priority to keeping open the line to Bromsgrove and hence the main line to the South West in case of any issues that do arise during the day.

 

[01d-and]

A number of Bromsgrove workings have terminated at Longbridge today. This has been a regular occurrence of late.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Nov 2025 ==

West Midlands Rail also advise that there will be NO rail replacement buses between Worcester and Hereford tomorrow . . . . . .

 

[father_jack]

Seems strange to run the Cross City to Bromsgrove instead of Redditch. This means that Redditch and Alvechurch will have no service at all whilst Bromsgrove will have it's usual 3 tph with the Worcester trains too. I can't imagine the weather will be that different a few miles different.

Wheelslip I'm told.

 

[yorkie]

West Midlands Rail also advise that there will be NO rail replacement buses between Worcester and Hereford tomorrow . . . . . .

If you can edit your post to include a link and quote, that would be great.

If West Midlands Trains do not provide any alternative, then anyone who has already bought a ticket would be entitled to submit an expense claim for a taxi, as appropriate for the journey being made.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Nov 2025 ==

To make matters worse I booked to travel First Class, so if I travel earlier I don't get the meal I paid for in the price of the ticket, and if I travel later I risk being forced to sit elsewhere because my reservations have been lost since the first class seating has also now been halved. I'm just hoping Avanti are prepared to diagram an eleven-coach Pendolino last minute to at least provide extra capacity. Curse you Storm Claudia!

If First Class is declassified on the train you end up taking, you are entitled to claim the difference in fares from Avanti.

 

[MikeWM]

Chiltern Railways hourly service
1. Birmingham Moor Street to London
2. Oxford to London
3. Aylesbury via met and via High Wycombe hourly services.

I think this validates my decision yesterday to postpone the tour of the southern part of the Chiltern network I had planned for tomorrow! Now due to do it next Friday instead (when it appears it may well be snowing, oh well)

--

LNR

After 1300

Running between New Street and Crewe only
No services between Liverpool and Crewe

Seems a bit unreasonable given Liverpool-Crewe is one of the few areas not under any warning tomorrow (rain or wind or both), and as above apparently Avanti are cutting back on the Liverpools too. Why would they choose to bin that rather than services inside the warning areas?

With the EMR and TPE cancellations (as above) and Northern also advising of severe disruption or cancellations between Liverpool and Wigan, Liverpool seems to be getting just about the worst of the cancellations so far, which seems somewhat odd given where the warnings actually are.

 

[Sorcerer]

If First Class is declassified on the train you end up taking, you are entitled to claim the difference in fares from Avanti.

Thank you very much for reminding me of this! I will be playing the afternoon by ear and see how things go, but I don't expect to end the journey without needing to seek some sort of compensation.

But on the subject of the storm disruptions I looked a bit more into it, and it definitely looks like the Liverpool service with Avanti has been reduced to hourly, so with any luck I'm at least hoping they can try to make use of any 11-car Pendolinos where possible to reduce the pressure, because an hourly seven-coach service that also has to compensate for other cancelled services will definitely be stretched thin.

 

[dvboy]

Cross Country:

• Customer Advice: Due to forecast severe rainfall during Storm Claudia, a speed restriction will apply on our route between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent from 15:00 on Friday 14 November.
• We have therefore amended our timetable to reflect the speed restriction, with a reduced service operating between Manchester and Birmingham between 13:00 on Friday until the close of service on Friday.
• A separate hourly service will run between Manchester and Birmingham.
• Passengers between Manchester and Bristol / Reading / Bournemouth are advised to travel to Birmingham for connections to these destinations.

 

[Lewisham2221]

West Midlands Rail also advise that there will be NO rail replacement buses between Worcester and Hereford tomorrow . . . . . .

If you can edit your post to include a link and quote, that would be great.

Internal Comms I've seen confirm WMR have/will issue DO NOT TRAVEL for Worcester - Hereford with no replacement road transport. Also GWR issuing DO NO TRAVEL for the same stretch.

Seems a bit unreasonable given Liverpool-Crewe is one of the few areas not under any warning tomorrow (rain or wind or both), and as above apparently Avanti are cutting back on the Liverpools too. Why would they choose to bin that rather than services inside the warning areas?

With the EMR and TPE cancellations (as above) and Northern also advising of severe disruption or cancellations between Liverpool and Wigan, Liverpool seems to be getting just about the worst of the cancellations so far, which seems somewhat odd given where the warnings actually are.

50mph blanket speed restriction covering the North Western route, South of Preston
EDIT: effective from 15:00 on Friday

 

[MarkWi72]

I’m working in London and will be travelling back later on tomorrow. Via Chiltern line back home to Dorridge. It’s going to be interesting to say the least.

 

[orestad]

Chiltern Railways hourly service
1. Birmingham Moor Street to London
2. Oxford to London
3. Aylesbury via met and via High Wycombe hourly services.

Might genuinely be very stupid, but I don’t see any available trains from Sudbury Hill Harrow to Marylebone from 7:00 or 8:00 today (14/11). Checked the Thameslink app for train times and there’s none available, but the timetable Chiltern published states there should be 1tph to Marylebone (as is the usual weekday timetable from that station).

Realtimetrains has the timetable, but the forum’s ticket section states they’re all cancelled with different times to that of the Chiltern Friday timetable. I don’t think I’ve ever been this confused.

Edit:

Revised timetable will not show until 6:00, so that’s my worries quelled for now.

 

[Jan Mayen]

Looks like I've chosen the wrong time to travel on the Heart of Wales Line. I wonder if services will be running around 11am.

 

[newtownmgr]

WMR not running west of Worcester. I wonder have they enough crew anyway

All trains on major route cancelled due to 'safety of passengers'

All trains on a busy rail route are to be cancelled tomorrow, with no rail replacement buses available.

www.herefordtimes.com

All turns covered and spare crew available. Cancellations are purely down to safety advice from Network Rail.

 

[greeny11]

Thank you very much for reminding me of this! I will be playing the afternoon by ear and see how things go, but I don't expect to end the journey without needing to seek some sort of compensation.

But on the subject of the storm disruptions I looked a bit more into it, and it definitely looks like the Liverpool service with Avanti has been reduced to hourly, so with any luck I'm at least hoping they can try to make use of any 11-car Pendolinos where possible to reduce the pressure, because an hourly seven-coach service that also has to compensate for other cancelled services will definitely be stretched thin.

Looking at RTT, it does seem to be a real mix of 7-car and 11-car services today.

The following are 11-car services from Liverpool:
0740, 0843, 0943, 1343, 1443, 1543, 1943 and 2051

From London:
0636, 1043, 1143, 1241, 1641 and 1741

 

[TUC]

Northern's journey checker shows disruption expected on Friday 14th around Halifax , many of the Halifax to Hull services only running east of Bradford : No mention so far of a reduced Calder Valley service ; perhaps being worked on ....

Train services between Hull and Halifax will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes.
Customer Advice
Heavy rain and winds are expected on Friday 14th November and Saturday 15th November. A number of yellow weather warnings for wind are in place.

Flooding is expected in places, and strong winds may bring down trees onto the railway.

Our advice to customers is to travel only if it is essential on a number of routes.

Our advice to our customers:
Services on this route will be severely disrupted in both directions due to forecasted severe weather.

Effect on service:
On Friday 14/11/2025 some services will terminate and restart at Bradford Interchange. There will be a reduced number of trains calling at Low Moor and Halifax.

Alternative travel suggestions:
We strongly advise you to avoid travelling if you can

Strange when the worst weather is forecast for the Midlands and South. Not sure why Northern think that will affect Halifax.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Cancellations are purely down to safety advice from Network Rail.

An important point to note. The TOCs often get heavily criticised in these situations (I'm not saying the couldn't do better) but many of these decisions are often influenced by Network Rail, who will be taking into account the potential impact on their infrastructure (not only damage, but also things such capacity and congestion when you've got loads of trains delayed and disrupted) and also their ability to respond to any incidents staffing wise (MOMs, P-Way etc etc).

 

[TUC]

An important point to note. The TOCs often get heavily criticised in these situations (I'm not saying the couldn't do better) but many of these decisions are often influenced by Network Rail, who will be taking into account the potential impact on their infrastructure (not only damage, but also things such capacity and congestion when you've got loads of trains delayed and disrupted) and also their ability to respond to any incidents staffing wise (MOMs, P-Way etc etc).

Of course those are important factors, but this is one of those situations where I do wonder whether being separated from having to balance these with passenger-facing requirements leads to less nuanced decisions than would otherwise be the case?

 

[YorkshireBear]

Strange when the worst weather is forecast for the Midlands and South. Not sure why Northern think that will affect Halifax.

If I had to guess, Calder Valley with lots of trees expected to shed leaves today, it might be just removing a train to improve reliability.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Strange when the worst weather is forecast for the Midlands and South. Not sure why Northern think that will affect Halifax.

The forecasted rain totals are still relatively high in Yorkshire with up to 50mm in places, and the wind is coming from the east (as opposed to the more usual west during stormy weather) which means it's the east sides of hills and mountains where you'd expect the worst conditions. The Calder is on the east side of the Pennines and is pretty infamous for its flood risk - though I'd have expected it to be worse further up (Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, etc) than in Halifax itself (which isn't even properly on the main Calder).

 

[Bletchleyite]

All turns covered and spare crew available. Cancellations are purely down to safety advice from Network Rail.

What's the specific issue with Hereford and for that matter Liverpool after 3 when Avanti aren't cancelling?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I don’t often splash out on Avanti first. I better still get my steak pie on the 16:40 ex Glasgow today!

 

[hexagon789]

I don’t often splash out on Avanti first. I better still get my steak pie on the 16:40 ex Glasgow today!

You know that's terminating at Preston?

Avanti West Coast JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Avanti West Coast JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

16:40 Glasgow Central to London Euston due 21:20


16:40 Glasgow Central to London Euston due 21:20 will be terminated at Preston.
It will no longer call at Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay, Milton Keynes Central and London Euston.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

You know that's terminating at Preston?

Avanti West Coast JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Avanti West Coast JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

View attachment 192242

I have a ticket to Preston so that’s fine. Thanks for the warning anyway.