Storm Claudia - Travel disruption (14/11)

[Russel]

Despite the heavy rain for almost 12 hours straight, my area seems to be coping well so far, normally after this much rain I can't get out the end of my road.

Hopefully things ease off over night as I'm due to travel from Tamworth to York in the morning via XC.

 

[CR165022]

19.07 Marylebone-Moor Street creeping along. Only just gone through High Wycombe and we left on time

To be fair, that's because there was an Aylesbury service stuck ahead. It was waiting for a freight to come off the branch, as the freight was running to it's normal schedule which overlaps with the STP one for today.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Noticed several cancelled or short running trains with the X4 code. For example, 1O30 1825 Manchester Piccadilly - Bournemouth

This service is partially cancelled​

This service was cancelled between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street due to temporary speed restrictions as a result of heat (X4).

Bit brasso in this part of the world today...

 

[Darandio]

Noticed several cancelled or short running trains with the X4 code. For example 1O30 1825 Manchester Piccadilly - Bournemouth

This service is partially cancelled​

This service was cancelled between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street due to temporary speed restrictions as a result of heat (X4).

Bit brasso in this part of the world today...

It's been a long day for everyone involved and it's clearly just a case of accidentally inputting the wrong code. Not a big deal.

 

[Horizon22]

Noticed several cancelled or short running trains with the X4 code. For example 1O30 1825 Manchester Piccadilly - Bournemouth

This service is partially cancelled​

This service was cancelled between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street due to temporary speed restrictions as a result of heat (X4).

Bit brasso in this part of the world today...

Did you get that from RTT? Because it has been pointed out multiple times here that those codes don't aligned to what the operator has actually attributed the alteration/delay/cancellation to.

 

[yorkie]

Bit brasso in this part of the world today...

I've no idea what this means, but you can't rely on Realtimetrains to give an accurate description of delay codes.

It's been a long day for everyone involved and it's clearly just a case of accidentally inputting the wrong code. Not a big deal.

It's not the wrong code. As described above, Realtimetrains doesn't have the correct description.

 

[185143]

Meanwhile I'm in Orkney.

Got caught in the WCML speed restrictions yesterday heading North. 72 minute delay into Haymarket, which will be one of the most memorable journeys I've had in a long time. Everyone onboard had the attitude of "it is what it is", the Train Manager did his best keeping us informed and about connections. And humour in the right places too, such as telling us a field near Plumpton where we'd stopped due to flooding on the line in the area "is a nice lake. Except it's not a lake, it's a field." When he was explaining what was happening.

The ferry up from Aberdeen was rather rough at times, though certainly not the worst I've had. And an hour late as a result. The crew said they'd been delayed into Aberdeen that morning too. But it's been a lovely, albeit cold, day up here. A world away from the chaos I'm reading about here and in work chats.

I know one thing for sure. My colleague who swapped shifts with me for today probably won't speak to me again!

 

[MarkWi72]

To be fair, that's because there was an Aylesbury service stuck ahead. It was waiting for a freight to come off the branch, as the freight was running to it's normal schedule which overlaps with the STP one for today.

Ah, explains it. We’re going normal line speed now towards Leamington Spa.

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To be fair, that's because there was an Aylesbury service stuck ahead. It was waiting for a freight to come off the branch, as the freight was running to it's normal schedule which overlaps with the STP one for today.

Ah, explains it. We’re going normal line speed now towards Leamington Spa.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Did you get that from RTT? Because it has been pointed out multiple times here that those codes don't aligned to what the operator has actually attributed the alteration/delay/cancellation to.

Yes -and I realise that. And I also realise the control rooms up and down the country are under immense pressure trying to cope with an ever changing situation, so mistaken inputs may happen.

but you can't rely on Realtimetrains to give an accurate description of delay codes.

As more and more members of the public use RTT nowadays and don't presumably know this, I wonder what they think? Perhaps RTT should not show them?

'Brasso' in this neck of the woods is short for brass monkey weather - ie not hot but rather chilly.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Does anyone know what is happening on the triangle?

There are trains arriving and heading to Bradford and Leeds but nothing so far for the last hour towards Skipton?

 

[yorkie]

Does anyone know what is happening on the triangle?

There are trains arriving and heading to Bradford and Leeds but nothing so far for the last hour towards Skipton?

I'm not sure what you mean; the 2048 from Bradford is approaching Skipton, and the train from Leeds is at Crossflatts.

What journey are you making?

 

[father_jack]

Was on the 16:07 from Newport to Paddington when it was cancelled about 17:00 at Bristol Parkway due to flooding.

I was heading to Paddington and colleague was heading to Reading. He decided to try via alternative route via Cheltenham. I said sod it booked hotel on company account and currently enjoying a pint. He’s still in Cheltenham.

Good luck to anyone trying to get anywhere tonight

I'm rail staff and I was in Gloucester when it started to fall to bits so my plan was carry on and have another beer and then this was my onward transport, refundable up to departure just in case the line opened or there were any railway buses (no and no). Nearly home now. The railway needs to react and recover way better. EDIT- I chopped off the price £11.05 each.

 

[PG]

That's absolutely amazing!

Or even:
Absolutely that amazing is

 

[MichaelTrains]

I'm not sure what you mean; the 2048 from Bradford is approaching Skipton, and the train from Leeds is at Crossflatts.

What journey are you making?

Nothing has left Bradford Forster Square for the last three hours.

There are around 70 of us waiting for the trains. Nothing has left since half past six.

 

[yorkie]

Nothing has left Bradford Forster Square for the last three hours.

There are around 70 of us waiting for the trains. Nothing has left since half past six.

Surely no-one would wait for over 3 hours at BDQ, when there would be alternative options, such as a bus to Shipley, or a 5-min walk to interchange, to pick up trains from there?

Are you absolutely sure the 2048 BDQ to SKI did not run?

 

[Sorcerer]

So a little report from me today, the garden shed incident between Stafford and Crewe had my train (16:41) diverted by Stone and Stoke-on-Trent, but the following service continued on the down main but was held up at Crewe due to a trespass incident. That was soon cleared up as well.

The shed caused a backlog of seven trains queued up for platform allocation at Crewe though, which on the West Coast Main Line is a huge deal. Soon as I was getting off at Lime Street people were piling to get on for the return journey. Quite a chaotic day to say the least, but good work on Avanti's part for me.

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

Based on information from a friend following behind me, I can confirm the 0943 was an 11-coach Pendolino, however the 17:41 was an Evero. Lucky escape for me because I was originally set on getting that one but chose to follow the advice of staff telling me to just get the earliest train I can to get home and managed to still get my first class service!

 

[MichaelTrains]

Surely no-one would wait for over 3 hours at BDQ, when there would be alternative options, such as a bus to Shipley, or a 5-min walk to interchange, to pick up trains from there?

Are you absolutely sure the 2048 BDQ to SKI did not run?

I arrived here at just after 8.00 pm. So I can only validate what the station staff are saying that nothing has left since 6.30 pm.

Since 8.00 pm two trains have arrived and nothing has left.

It is okay saying get the bus but that takes over two hours from Bradford and the hourly 662 to Keighley is full and leaving people behind at the interchange.

How would I get to Skipton or Ilkley from the Interchange when nothing has moved on the triangle?

This country's transport infrastructure especially in West Yorkshire is a disgrace.

 

[Bayum]

Surely no-one would wait for over 3 hours at BDQ, when there would be alternative options, such as a bus to Shipley, or a 5-min walk to interchange, to pick up trains from there?

Are you absolutely sure the 2048 BDQ to SKI did not run?

Showing as cancelled on RTT but hitting pathing points toward Skipton coaching sidings as a stock move potentially rather than running in service. Inbound service was cancelled too.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Showing as cancelled on RTT but hitting pathing points toward Skipton coaching sidings as a stock move potentially rather than running in service.

I've been at Forster Square nearly two hours now and nothing has left. The trains are now going to be stacked on top of each other with everything full.

 

[Sorcerer]

Showing as cancelled on RTT but hitting pathing points toward Skipton coaching sidings as a stock move potentially rather than running in service.

I find Real Time Trains to be generally reliable, and it helped me get ahead of the Euston scrum by finding the platform for my train early. But it has been wrong on a few occasions today such as originally showing the 17:41 to Liverpool as an eleven-coach Pendolino that later turned out to be an Evero.

Additionally in some cases it didn't display some services as cancelled until the hour they were due to run despite the services having been cancelled since last night. I think it was probably dealing with the chaos as much as everybody else was, and it's easy to forget that it isn't entirely fool proof. If in doubt, check with the operator is my advice.

 

[Bayum]

I've been at Forster Square nearly two hours now and nothing has left. The trains are now going to be stacked on top of each other with everything full.

In two hours?
Not even the LNER services?

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I find Real Time Trains to be generally reliable, and it helped me get ahead of the Euston scrum by finding the platform for my train early. But it has been wrong on a few occasions today such as originally showing the 17:41 to Liverpool as an eleven-coach Pendolino that later turned out to be an Evero.

Additionally in some cases it didn't display some services as cancelled until the hour they were due to run despite the services having been cancelled since last night. I think it was probably dealing with the chaos as much as everybody else was, and it's easy to forget that it isn't entirely fool proof. If in doubt, check with the operator is my advice.

Northern site does say OHLE damage between Skipton and Bradford.

 

[MichaelTrains]

In two hours?
Not even the LNER services?

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


Northern site does say OHLE damage between Skipton and Bradford.

No, nothing has left the station in that time.

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Three trains have arrived in the last two hours from I presume Leeds and Ilkley if nothing is going to Skipton.

 

[JD2168]

Rotherham Central was closed around 4pm this afternoon. Tram Train services were sent to Meadowhall as a Yellow route.

 

[Bow Fell]

Surely no-one would wait for over 3 hours at BDQ, when there would be alternative options, such as a bus to Shipley, or a 5-min walk to interchange, to pick up trains from there?

Are you absolutely sure the 2048 BDQ to SKI did not run?

The 2048 Bradford to Skipton did run. There was a 2 hour gap of services leaving Forster Square, which I can only imagine is far from perfect on the Triangle.

What is frustrating is people seem to be inferring a lot what is going on with the disruption from RTT which is absolutely the worst thing to do during service disruption, or that services are disrupted due to “heat” just because RTT says so because it does a very poor job of explaining delay codes. We are seeing much more information and maybe too much information isn’t all good, as it leads to such conclusions. And I’m a regular user and subscriber of RTT but I know its exact limitations.

Another issue will be incorrectly showing unit allocations, as a controller, deallocating/allocating units would be the last thing I’d do during disruption, as I’d be focussed on putting the job back together/dealing with the train service/traincrew. As I long as I know what the unit has done / is doing that can be dealt with once the service is back up and running or left for my relief when they are less busy. It’s not something, in the nicest way possible we should be relying on with comments saying they are wrong on days such as this. What a unit is displaying on RTT will be the bottom of my priority.

As long as what is input into Darwin by TOC controls are correct, other more reliable sources such as CIS and National Rail Enquiries will be accurate.

 

[yorkie]

No, nothing has left the station in that time.

What train did you get?

Are you really saying you were at BDQ all that time instead of using an alternative route?

Multiple systems show the 20:48 did run.

 

[Horizon22]

Yes -and I realise that. And I also realise the control rooms up and down the country are under immense pressure trying to cope with an ever changing situation, so mistaken inputs may happen.

Of course. But if you've used the same delay code for 100 trains already, it will be right at the top of your options, so will be the first click. It would almost be harder to make such a mistake.

 

[AlexRail575]

Noticed several cancelled or short running trains with the X4 code. For example, 1O30 1825 Manchester Piccadilly - Bournemouth

I've no idea what this means, but you can't rely on Realtimetrains to give an accurate description of delay codes.

It's not the wrong code. As described above, Realtimetrains doesn't have the correct description.

In any case the delay codes are clearly documented on the Open Rail Data Wiki, right here. "X4" is correct, and should be "Blanket speed restriction or Key Route Strategy implemented in accordance with Group Standards or other national operational safety instruction".

Why RTT haven't bothered to fix that issue on their end, I don't really know. They're not the only site which uses the data, though...

 

[Josh147]

My Avanti train from Stoke-on-Trent was originally delayed, and then it inevitably got cancelled.

Nearly every single other train was either cancelled for the next four hours or would rush through the station. Surprisingly, my original train, which had been cancelled, eventually arrived as we were travelling to Euston.

You could hear the train scraping past trees every 10 minutes as the wind must have bent or knocked them partly down. However, my train, which was supposed to leave at 14:53 and arrive at 16:30, arrived at Euston at 20:38.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Large shed reported on the line near Madeley. (WCML, south of Crewe)

Presumably this one? Definitely on the large side...

For the benefit of screen readers: This picture of a large shed blown inverted onto the cutting side was tweeted earlier by West Midlands Railway.

 

[Geeves]

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

The Calder Valley was indeed obliterated service wise tonight with pretty much nothing after 1600. Trees down at Halifax station, somewhere around Rochdale and very large tree at Mills Hill finished off Clitheroe, Chester and Wigan services too in the opposite direction.

By the end of the night the Huddersfield line also became blocked for a time as well as big tree down between Salford Central and Crescent. Not a pleasant evening

I suspect the Calder Valley will still be blocked in the morning, it's wild out!