Storm Claudia - Travel disruption (14/11)

[hexagon789]

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

No worries

 

[Belperpete]

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

This storm is coming on top of the heavy rain that we had earlier in the week. Areas near me are still under water from that. So while Halifax may not be worse affected today, if it is already close to flooding then this may be enough to tip the scales.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Northern have cancelled the Headbolt Lane - Blackburn services after 14:00 so they'll just be going from Headbolt Lane - Wigan.
The Leeds-Wigan are still expected to be running in full.
I imagine a lot of delay repay will be submitted today.

 

[childwallblues]

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 the weather forecat last night it appears that Liverpool is in the eye of Storm Claudia so with TPE, EMR and LNR also cancelling it looks like a quiet weekend round here.

 

[sportzbar]

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

The Hull-Halifax is being cut back to Bradford Interchange to protect the Victoria-Leeds services which will be hit by blanket speed restrictions. As the two hourly via halifax services will be heavily delayed it makes sense to remove less busy services to protect the resilience of the busier services....

 

[AndrewE]

Avanti on the WCML seem to have cancelled all the Birmingham-Scotland trains. RTT doesn't show the Trent Valley Glasgow trains calling additionally at Crewe instead, but by the way they are all losing time in the Crewe area I presume they are calling. It's of interest to me today because we have to travel through Crewe to Yorkshire, and one suggested route was changing at Warrington-Newton-le-Willows-Leeds!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Avanti on the WCML seem to have cancelled all the Birmingham-Scotland trains. RTT doesn't show the Trent Valley Glasgow trains calling additionally at Crewe instead, but by the way they are all losing time in the Crewe area I presume they are calling. It's of interest to me today because we have to travel through Crewe to Yorkshire, and one suggested route was changing at Warrington-Newton-le-Willows-Leeds!

They are yes. The 1030 off Euston is shown on Railboard as calling at Stafford and Crewe, for example (it would normally not call at either and run fast to Warrington), whereas Realtime Trains isn't showing that.

 

[Lewisham2221]

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

For Liverpool, that'll be the 50mph blanket speed restriction coming into force across the North West (south of Preston) at 15:00

 

[Bletchleyite]

For Liverpool, that'll be the 50mph blanket speed restriction coming into force across the North West (south of Preston) at 15:00

How does a 50mph speed restriction prevent the operation of a service? Are paths so tight that you can't fit the WMT in on a route that carries just three passenger trains per hour normally? They might have to drop frequencies but I don't see why they have to withdraw service entirely.

 

[LT586]

I could joke and say a little bit of rain but looking at the current weather patterns its saying moderate so where or if there’s a storm they’d of cancelled trains for no real reason?

I’m just saying weather can change, so who will they answer to for inconveniencing people for a weekend? We’re not going to end up like Jamaica as we’re in a different climate.

 

[21C101]

How does a 50mph speed restriction prevent the operation of a service? Are paths so tight that you can't fit the WMT in on a route that carries just three passenger trains per hour normally? They might have to drop frequencies but I don't see why they have to withdraw service entirely.

If you halve the speed limit the journey time doubles so you need twice as many trains and crew to maintain the same service frequency.

 

[01d-and]

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 ==

Sorry folks . The information about no replacement buses was taken from the West Midlands Trains website , they have now added that travel tickets for today can be used tomorrow.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you halve the speed limit the journey time doubles so you need twice as many trains and crew to maintain the same service frequency.

Edit: moved to new Speculative thread:

Storm Claudia - are there alternatives to wholesale withdrawal of services?

If you halve the speed limit the journey time doubles so you need twice as many trains and crew to maintain the same service frequency. Indeed. So what you do is halve the frequency, not withdraw the service entirely! You only withdraw the service if it's unsafe* to operate it, which it...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Benjwri]

I could joke and say a little bit of rain but looking at the current weather patterns its saying moderate so where or if there’s a storm they’d of cancelled trains for no real reason?

I’m just saying weather can change, so who will they answer to for inconveniencing people for a weekend? We’re not going to end up like Jamaica as we’re in a different climate.

The cancellations are because of speed restrictions due to the huge amounts of rain coming down at once, we have seen time and time again what can happen if you run trains at normal speeds in condition like this, when land slips and the like could have occurred. It’s far better everyone is safe.

You seem to be suggesting this storm might just disappear? That’s not going to happen at this stage. There is almost definitely going to be a huge amount of rain this afternoon in the areas affected.

 

[Dave W]

The cancellations are because of speed restrictions due to the huge amounts of rain coming down at once, we have seen time and time again what can happen if you run trains at normal speeds in condition like this, when land slips and the like could have occurred. It’s far better everyone is safe.

You seem to be suggesting this storm might just disappear? That’s not going to happen at this stage. There is almost definitely going to be a huge amount of rain this afternoon in the areas affected.

There's been plenty of it already. The radar has barely changed since I first looked at it when I got up at 6am. Slow moving is an understatement.

 

[LT586]

The cancellations are because of speed restrictions due to the huge amounts of rain coming down at once, we have seen time and time again what can happen if you run trains at normal speeds in condition like this, when land slips and the like could have occurred. It’s far better everyone is safe.

You seem to be suggesting this storm might just disappear? That’s not going to happen at this stage. There is almost definitely going to be a huge amount of rain this afternoon in the areas affected.

No just that weather can shift and currently flying up the west coast mainline, so just wondering where the problems are (if it progresses). We know land can slip, but with the way this country tackles any slight bit of weather it’s hardly surprsing

 

[MikeWM]

We've had an awful lot of rain here overnight, and we're in the amber warning area. Nevertheless things seem to have run fairly normally from Ely so far.

Of course that can change, and I see there are now issues on both the Norwich and Kings Lynn lines, though from the descriptions they don't (immediately) appear to be flooding related.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Avanti on the WCML seem to have cancelled all the Birmingham-Scotland trains. RTT doesn't show the Trent Valley Glasgow trains calling additionally at Crewe instead, but by the way they are all losing time in the Crewe area I presume they are calling. It's of interest to me today because we have to travel through Crewe to Yorkshire, and one suggested route was changing at Warrington-Newton-le-Willows-Leeds!

Avanti's Journey Check website is indeed showing most, if not all of their xx30Euston to Glasgow via Trent Valley as calling additionally at Stafford and Crewe today.

 

[TUC]

The Hull-Halifax is being cut back to Bradford Interchange to protect the Victoria-Leeds services which will be hit by blanket speed restrictions. As the two hourly via halifax services will be heavily delayed it makes sense to remove less busy services to protect the resilience of the busier services....

At the moment, high above Halifax, it is very wet but not exceptionally windy.

 

[ChrisC]

The area covered by the amber weather warning for heavy rain has now been extended north to cover Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and parts of South Yorkshire.

 

[Snow1964]

The cancellations are because of speed restrictions due to the huge amounts of rain coming down at once, we have seen time and time again what can happen if you run trains at normal speeds in condition like this, when land slips and the like could have occurred. It’s far better everyone is safe.

You seem to be suggesting this storm might just disappear? That’s not going to happen at this stage. There is almost definitely going to be a huge amount of rain this afternoon in the areas affected.

Huge might be stretching the terminology.

The River levels page has a section called Nearby levels, one of which is rainfall. For want of an example I have picked location based on you location, and Bath Claverton is currently showing 2.8mm rain in last hour, or 11.5m in last 6 hours, or 23.0mm in last 24 hours.

So far I have picked a dozen locations around the country and not found a single one of over 40mm in 24 hours. Thats normal autumn rain levels, not extreme.

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels - GOV.UK

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels in England. Check the last updated height, trend and state recorded by the measuring station.

check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk

 

[londonmidland]

The heaviest of rain is still yet to come through this afternoon and evening. That’s why rainfall totals aren’t particularly high at the moment.

 

[Dave W]

Huge might be stretching the terminology.

The River levels page has a section called Nearby levels, one of which is rainfall. For want of an example I have picked location based on you location, and Bath Claverton is currently showing 2.8mm rain in last hour, or 11.5m in last 6 hours, or 23.0mm in last 24 hours.

So far I have picked a dozen locations around the country and not found a single one of over 40mm in 24 hours. Thats normal autumn rain levels, not extreme.

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels - GOV.UK

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels in England. Check the last updated height, trend and state recorded by the measuring station.

check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk

The weather warning is for today, with heavy rain to persist for the entire day; that wasn't true of yesterday.

 

[bramling]

Huge might be stretching the terminology.

The River levels page has a section called Nearby levels, one of which is rainfall. For want of an example I have picked location based on you location, and Bath Claverton is currently showing 2.8mm rain in last hour, or 11.5m in last 6 hours, or 23.0mm in last 24 hours.

So far I have picked a dozen locations around the country and not found a single one of over 40mm in 24 hours. Thats normal autumn rain levels, not extreme.

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels - GOV.UK

Find river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels in England. Check the last updated height, trend and state recorded by the measuring station.

check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk

The issue isn’t the strength of the rainfall but the duration. If you look at the radar views showing what’s happening, it has barely budged all morning. If that continues, as is forecast, then there will be some high totals in some areas by this time tomorrow. Nothing massively exceptional probably, but certainly enough to cause issues, probably not helped by coming off the back of a long dry summer.

 

[Brubulus]

There seems to be some delays around Ely, with a few cancellations, assuming it's due to the weather. A train has also failed at Little port, which adds to the issues

 

[TheLastMinute]

The issue isn’t the strength of the rainfall but the duration. If you look at the radar views showing what’s happening, it has barely budged all morning. If that continues, as is forecast, then there will be some high totals in some areas by this time tomorrow. Nothing massively exceptional probably, but certainly enough to cause issues, probably not helped by coming off the back of a long dry summer.

Not just the duration, but also the fact it's coming from the east rather than usual prevailing westerly direction. This means that east facing hills and ranges that are normally in the rainfall shadow will be bearing the brunt of it. Same with the Easterly winds which are forecast to be the strongest around NE England and North Wales.

 

[1D54]

There seems to be some delays around Ely, with a few cancellations, assuming it's due to the weather. A train has also failed at Little port, which adds to the issues

Signalling problem between Ely and Thetford but GA reporting it should be back to normal very soon.

 

[newtownmgr]

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

Don’t know as regards Liverpool. With the Hereford line. It’s prone to flooding in a couple of locations but the roads in the area are prone to a lot more flooding and become impassable very quickly. If a train with passengers was to become stranded it’s very likely that the local roads will also be impassable. Hence the reason there are no road replacements offered. It’s a very rural area with lots of low lying roads and farm land.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Nov 2025 ==

Worcester to snow hill currently blocked due to trees down in 2 places. Already had a unit damaged after hitting a tree at Blakedown this morning.

The advice is don’t travel!

 

[Daniel Boone]

Hi does anyone know if Avanti is accepting LNWR tickets between Crewe and Liverpool?

 

[KNN]

Hi does anyone know if Avanti is accepting LNWR tickets between Crewe and Liverpool?

No, they aren't.

Live Train Status | Train Disruption | Avanti West Coast

Find the latest live train status updates across the UK and check for train disruption today. Stay up to date with current train status and service updates.

www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk

[Link to Avanti West Coast website live status page, where travel disruption information is located]